Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 28
Virocana–Bali, Aditi’s Tapas, and the Vāmana–Trivikrama Episode
समाविष्टे हृषीकेशे देवमातुरथोदरम् / उत्पाता जज्ञिरे घोरा बलेर्वैरोचनेः पुरे
samāviṣṭe hṛṣīkeśe devamāturathodaram / utpātā jajñire ghorā balervairocaneḥ pure
When Hṛṣīkeśa had entered the womb of the Mother of the Gods, then in the city of Bali Vairocana dreadful portents arose.
Purāṇic narrator (Sūta/authorial narration)
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
It presents the Supreme as Hṛṣīkeśa—Lord of the senses—who freely ‘enters’ a womb without being limited by embodiment, implying transcendence while immanently guiding cosmic events.
No explicit practice is taught in this verse; it frames the yogic-theological idea that the Supreme can assume a form by māyā for dharma’s restoration—an outlook later harmonized with Kurma Purana’s Pāśupata-Yoga and devotion-based discipline.
Though Vishnu is named, the Purana’s broader synthesis treats such avatāra-events as movements of the one Īśvara; the same supreme lordship later articulated in Shaiva idiom (Pāśupata/Īśvara) is compatible with Vishnu’s role here.