Vamana Purana — Shukra's Curse on King Danda, Shloka 138

Shukra’s Curse on King Danda and Andhaka’s Challenge to Shiva

Devanagari script

तत्र स्नात्वा विधानेन संप्राप्तो हाटकेश्वरम् ददृशे नन्दयन्ती च स्थितां देववतीमपि

Transliteration

tatra snātvā vidhānena saṃprāpto hāṭakeśvaram dadṛśe nandayantī ca sthitāṃ devavatīmapi

Translation

There, having bathed according to the prescribed rite, he reached Hāṭakeśvara; and he beheld Nandayantī, and also Devavatī standing there.

Speakers

• Narrative voice describing the traveler’s ritual bath and subsequent darśana; explicit interlocutors not stated in the verse.

Primary Deities

• Shiva

Key Themes

• Ritual bathing (snāna-vidhi) as prerequisite to darśana
• Śaiva tīrtha focus within broader Purāṇic geography
• Personified sacred waters (feminine river/tīrtha names)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Is Hāṭakeśvara a deity-name or a place-name in this verse?

It functions as both: grammatically it is the object of ‘reached’ (saṃprāptaḥ), indicating a destination (a shrine/tīrtha), while semantically it names Śiva in a specific local manifestation. Purāṇas commonly fuse shrine and deity under one toponymic theonym.

Who/what are Nandayantī and Devavatī—women, goddesses, or rivers?

In tīrtha-geography contexts, such feminine names frequently denote rivers/streams, ponds, or localized sacred presences personified as goddesses. The wording ‘sthitām’ (“situated/standing there”) suits geographic features as well as personified deities; absent further context, they are best tagged as named sacred features (likely water-bodies/tīrthas).

Why does the verse emphasize “snātvā vidhānena” (bathing according to rule)?

Purāṇic tīrtha passages often encode ritual protocol: merit arises not merely from visiting but from correct observance (vidhi)—bath, purity, and then darśana. This line signals that the site’s efficacy is tied to prescribed practice, not only geography.