Vamana Purana — Chanda & Munda Discover Katyayani, Shloka 6
Chanda and Munda Discover Katyayani; Mahishasura’s Proposal and the Vishnu-Panjara Protection
पीनाः सशस्त्राः पिरघोपमाश्च भुजास्तथाष्टादश भान्ति तस्याः पराक्रमं वै भवतो विदित्वा कामेन यन्त्रा इव ते कृतास्तु
pīnāḥ saśastrāḥ piraghopamāśca bhujāstathāṣṭādaśa bhānti tasyāḥ parākramaṃ vai bhavato viditvā kāmena yantrā iva te kṛtāstu
Her arms—full, weapon-bearing, and comparable to iron clubs—eighteen in number, shine forth. Knowing your valor, Kāma (Smara) has fashioned them as though they were restraining devices (yantras).
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FAQs
Desire is depicted as a power that binds even the valorous—turning attractive qualities into ‘yantras’ (constraints). The ethical undertone is that inner freedom requires mastery over kāma, not merely external strength.
Again, it sits outside the five hallmark topics as poetic narration within an episode (carita/anucarita material), rather than cosmology or genealogy proper.
Eighteen arms is a divine/śakti-like marker in Purāṇic iconography (evoking multi-armed power). Here it is repurposed in erotic-poetic rhetoric: the ‘armed’ arms become instruments of Kāma’s capture, blending śakti/martial symbolism with the psychology of attachment.