Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 39
Dakṣa-yajña-bhaṅgaḥ — Dadhīci’s Teaching and the Destruction of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice
दंष्ट्राकरालं दुष्प्रेक्ष्यं शङ्खचक्रगदाधरम् / दण्डहस्तं महानादं शार्ङ्गिणं भूतिभूषणम्
daṃṣṭrākarālaṃ duṣprekṣyaṃ śaṅkhacakragadādharam / daṇḍahastaṃ mahānādaṃ śārṅgiṇaṃ bhūtibhūṣaṇam
He appeared with fearsome fangs, difficult to behold; bearing the conch, discus, and mace—holding a staff in His hand—thundering with a mighty roar, wielding the Śārṅga bow, and adorned with sacred ash as His ornament.
Narrator (Purāṇic narration, describing the Lord’s manifested form to the audience within the Indradyumna–Kurma dialogue frame)
Primary Rasa: raudra
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By portraying the Lord as simultaneously awe-inspiring and fully equipped with divine emblems, the verse points to the Supreme as transcendent (duṣprekṣya—beyond ordinary perception) yet immanent through a manifest form that grants darśana and protection.
The verse supports a dhyāna framework: meditators contemplate the Lord’s form (saguṇa-upāsanā) with specific attributes—emblems and radiance—training the mind toward one-pointedness (ekāgratā), which the Kurma Purana later aligns with disciplined devotion and yogic restraint.
Calling the Śārṅgadhara Lord “bhūti-bhūṣaṇa” (adorned with sacred ash) uses a distinctly Śaiva marker for a Vaiṣṇava deity, expressing the Kurma Purana’s non-sectarian theology where Śiva-Viṣṇu unity is affirmed through shared symbols and a single supreme reality.