Adhyaya 67: On the Two ‘Sita–Kṛṣṇā’ Figures, the Sevenfold Ocean, and the Twelvefold Year
Sitakṛṣṇā-dvividhatā, Samudra-saptatva, Saṃvatsara-dvādaśatva ca
Cosmology & Temporal-Ecology (Symbolic Exegesis)
Set within the Varāha–Pṛthivī teaching frame, this adhyāya offers a subsidiary dialogue in which Bhadrāśva asks the sage Agastya about symbolic cosmology: why two figures named Sitakṛṣṇā appear as distinct women, how “one” becomes sevenfold, and how another becomes twelvefold while being “two-bodied” and “six-headed.” Agastya explains these as interpretive correspondences: Sitakṛṣṇā signifies paired principles (truth/untruth) and is also identified with night; the “one becoming seven” is the ocean understood in a sevenfold arrangement; and the “twelvefold, two-bodied, six-headed” figure is the saṃvatsara (year), structured by two motions/paths and by six seasons as its ‘faces.’ The chapter links day–night and sun–moon to the world’s emergence and ordering, and concludes that realizing Viṣṇu requires engagement in Vedic rites—an implicit ethic of sustaining cosmic and terrestrial balance through regulated time and practice.
Primary Speakers
Key Concepts
Shlokas in Adhyaya 67
Verse 1
भद्राश्व उवाच । भगवन् सितकृष्णे द्वे भिन्ने जगति केशवान् । स्त्रियौ बभूवतुः के द्वे सितकृष्णा च का शुभा ॥ ६७.१ ॥
Bhadrāśva said: “O Blessed One, in the world there are two—Sītā and Kṛṣṇā—distinct from each other, yet connected with Keśava. Who are those two women? And who is the auspicious one called Sītā-Kṛṣṇā?”
Verse 2
कश्चासौ पुरुषो ब्रह्मन् य एकः सप्तधा भवेत् । कोऽसौ द्वादशधा विप्र द्विदेहः षट्शिराः शुभः ॥ ६७.२ ॥
“Who, O Brahmin, is that Person who, though one, becomes sevenfold? And who, O learned one, is that same principle that becomes twelvefold—two-bodied, six-headed, auspicious?”
Verse 3
दाम्पत्यं च द्विजश्रेष्ठ कृतसूर्योदयादनम् । कस्मादेतज्जगदिदं विततं द्विजसत्तम ॥ ६७.३ ॥
“And concerning conjugal life as well, O best of the twice-born—together with the rite performed at sunrise—why is this world here spread out as it is, O foremost among the twice-born?”
Verse 4
अगस्त्य उवाच । सितकृष्णे स्त्रियौ ये ते ते भगिन्यौ प्रकीर्तिते । सत्यासत्ये द्विवर्णा च नारी रात्रिरुदाहृता ॥ ६७.४ ॥
Agastya said: “Those two women—white and black—are proclaimed to be sisters. As truth and untruth, and as two-colored, the woman ‘Night’ is thus described.”
Verse 5
यः पुमान् सप्तधा जात एको भूत्वा नरेश्वर । स समुद्रस्तु विज्ञेयः सप्तधैकॊ व्यवस्थितः ॥ ६७.५ ॥
O lord of men, that single Person who has become born in sevenfold form—he is to be understood as the Ocean, existing as one yet established in a sevenfold manner.
Verse 6
योऽसौ द्वादशधा राजन् द्विदेहः षट्शिराः प्रभुः । संवत्सरः स विज्ञेयः शरीरे द्वे गती स्मृते । ऋतवः षट् च वक्त्राणि एष संवत्सरः स्मृतः ॥ ६७.६ ॥
O King, that sovereign principle which is twelvefold, two-bodied, and six-headed should be understood as the “year” (saṃvatsara). In its body two courses are remembered; and the six seasons are said to be its six faces—such is the year as described.
Verse 7
दाम्पत्यं तदहोरात्रं सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ ततः । ततो जगत्समुत्तस्थौ देवस्यास्य नृपोत्तम ॥ ६७.७ ॥
From that arose conjugal union; from that, day and night; then the Sun and the Moon. Thereafter the world came forth—O best of kings—(all) belonging to this Deity.
Verse 8
स विष्णुः परमो देवो विज्ञेयो नृपसत्तम । न च वेदक्रियाहीनः पश्यते परमेश्वरम् ॥ ६७.८ ॥
That Viṣṇu is to be understood as the supreme divine reality, O best of kings; and one who is devoid of Vedic rites does not perceive the Supreme Lord.
Verse 9
॥ इति वराहपुराणे भगवच्छास्त्रे सप्तषष्ठितमोऽध्यायः ॥ ६७ ॥
Thus ends the sixty-seventh chapter in the Varāha Purāṇa, the sacred scripture concerning the Blessed Lord.
Verse 10
|| Thus, in the Varaha Purana, in the śāstra of the Bhagavan, ends the sixty-seventh chapter ||
Frequently Asked Questions
The text frames cosmic order as intelligible through disciplined practice: it states that perceiving the supreme principle (identified with Viṣṇu) is not accessible to one who is deficient in Vedic rites (veda-kriyā). In a neutral scholarly reading, this functions as a norm of maintaining order—personal and societal—by aligning conduct with established ritual-temporal frameworks.
The chapter emphasizes ahorātra (day–night) and the saṃvatsara (year) structured as dvādaśadhā (twelvefold). It explicitly names the six seasons (ṛtavaḥ ṣaṭ) as integral to the year’s structure. No specific lunar tithis are mentioned in this passage.
Environmental balance is implied through the ordering of nature by time: the ocean is conceptualized as sevenfold (a way of classifying ecological space), while the year is defined through cyclical divisions and seasons. By linking world-emergence and stability to regulated cycles (sun–moon, day–night, seasons), the text can be read as presenting an early model of terrestrial stewardship grounded in respecting and maintaining temporal-ecological rhythms.
The chapter names Bhadrāśva (a royal interlocutor) and Agastya (a prominent sage figure) as the immediate participants in the explanatory exchange. No extended dynastic genealogy is provided within the cited verses.