Vamana Purana — Harihara Non-Duality, Shloka 45

Harihara Non-Duality and the Revelation of Sadasiva to the Ganas

Devanagari script

ततः पश्यन्ति हि गणाः तमीसं वै शहस्रशः सहस्रवक्त्रचरणं सहस्त्रभुजमीश्वरम्

Transliteration

tataḥ paśyanti hi gaṇāḥ tamīsaṃ vai śahasraśaḥ sahasravaktracaraṇaṃ sahastrabhujamīśvaram

Translation

Then the Gaṇas beheld that Lord in manifold ways: the Sovereign endowed with a thousand faces and feet, and with a thousand arms.

Speakers

• Narrator describing the Gaṇas’ vision of Śiva

Primary Deities

• Shiva (Īśvara)

Key Themes

• Cosmic form imagery
• Divine infinitude expressed through ‘thousand’ epithets
• Devotional vision (darśana) granted to attendants
• Transcendence within mythic narrative

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "bhayanaka", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Is this ‘thousand-faced, thousand-armed’ form the same as Viṣṇu’s Viśvarūpa?

The imagery is structurally similar—‘thousand’ functions as a marker of immeasurable magnitude—but here it is explicitly Śiva’s theophany. Purāṇic literature often shares a common iconographic vocabulary to express divine infinity across deities.

What is the function of “śahasraśaḥ” in the verse?

Śahasraśaḥ intensifies the vision: the Gaṇas see the Lord as if in countless aspects or repeated manifestations, underscoring that the form cannot be exhausted by a single viewpoint.

Why mention faces, feet, and arms specifically?

Faces suggest omniscient presence and manifold expression; feet imply pervasion and cosmic stride; arms signify irresistible power and capacity to uphold, protect, and subdue—apt in an Andhaka-vadha setting.