Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 84

Portents at Bali’s Sacrifice and the Kośakāra’s Son: The Power of Past Karma

Devanagari script

ब्राह्मणस्याग्निवेश्यस्य गेहे बहुकलत्रिणः तत्रापि सर्वविज्ञानं प्रत्यभासत् ततो मम

Transliteration

brāhmaṇasyāgniveśyasya gehe bahukalatriṇaḥ tatrāpi sarvavijñānaṃ pratyabhāsat tato mama

Translation

{"frame_active": true, "narrator": "Upavana (as first-person narrator within the tīrtha-māhātmya exemplum)", "listener": "mune (a sage addressed in the episode)", "embedded_story": "A domestic-ethical episode at Sarasvatī-tīrtha involving Vimati and the donkey Upavana, used to illustrate tīrtha power and moral causality.", "frame_transition": "Shift into first-person narration by the donkey-character, signaling an embedded exemplum within the Saromahatmya.", "question_asked": null}

Word by Word

:

:

:

:

Speakers

• First-person speaker continuing the karmic autobiography within the chapter’s dialogue frame (not provided).

Key Themes

• Jāti-smara (memory/knowledge across births)
• Residual karmic impressions (saṃskāra)
• Householder complexity (polygyny)
• Moral narrative leading toward purification

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What does it mean that ‘all knowledge became manifest again’?

It indicates a puranic motif of retained impressions (saṃskāras) ripening into recollection or aptitude in a later birth—sometimes framed as jāti-smara (birth-memory) or spontaneous reawakening of learning.

Is ‘Āgniveśya’ a person or a lineage marker?

It can function as a personal name and also as a gotra/pravara-style designation. In narrative usage, it anchors the rebirth in a recognizable Brahmin identity without requiring further geography.

Why mention that the Brahmin had many wives?

The detail situates the household’s social texture and may foreshadow ethical complications or narrative causality. Puranic stories often include such markers to explain later conflicts, inheritance issues, or moral contrasts.