Shloka 61

प्रह्लादस्य अव्यभिचारिणी भक्ति, मायाविनाशः, तथा विष्णोः विश्वरूप-स्तुतिः

Devanagari script

तद् एष तोयधाव् अत्र समाक्रान्तो महीधरैः तिष्ठत्व् अब्दसहस्रान्तं प्राणान् हास्यति दुर्मतिः

Transliteration

tad eṣa toyadhāv atra samākrānto mahīdharaiḥ tiṣṭhatv abdasahasrāntaṃ prāṇān hāsyati durmatiḥ

Translation

Let this wicked-minded one remain here, hemmed in on all sides by these mountains, within this rushing course of waters; and when a thousand years are completed, he shall forfeit his very life-breath.

Word by Word

• तत्: then/so
• तत्: Discourse (Anaphoric/संदर्भ)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया-विभक्ति, एकवचन; अव्ययवत् वाक्योपक्रमे (then/so)

• एषः: this (one)
• एषः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: एतद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति (कर्ता), एकवचन

• तोयधौ: in the watery expanse (ocean)
• तोयधौ: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तोय (प्रातिपदिक) + धि/धौ (प्रातिपदिक: धि/धौ ‘receptacle’)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (अधिकरण), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (तोयस्य धिः/धौः = जलाशयः)

• अत्र: here
• अत्र: Adhikarana (Location/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अत्र (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; देशवाचक क्रियाविशेषण

• समाक्रान्तः: overwhelmed/covered
• समाक्रान्तः: Visheshana (Qualifier/विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सम् + आ + क्रम् (धातु)
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (क्त), पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषणम् (एषः)

• महीधरैः: by mountains
• महीधरैः: Karana (Instrument/करण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मही (प्रातिपदिक) + धर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया-विभक्ति (करण), बहुवचन; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (महीधराḥ = पर्वताः)

• तिष्ठतु: let (him/it) remain
• तिष्ठतु: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्था (धातु)
• Form: लोट्-लकार (आज्ञार्थ/Imperative), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन, परस्मैपदम्

• अब्दसहस्रान्तम्: for a thousand years (until the end of a thousand years)
• अब्दसहस्रान्तम्: Adhikarana (Temporal extent/अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अब्द (प्रातिपदिक) + सहस्र (प्रातिपदिक) + अन्त (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति (कालावधि), एकवचन; तत्पुरुष (सहस्र-अब्दानाम् अन्तः/पर्यन्तः)

• प्राणान्: life-breaths, life
• प्राणान्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया-विभक्ति (कर्म), बहुवचन

• हास्यति: will abandon/lose
• हास्यति: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: हा (धातु)
• Form: लृट्-लकार (भविष्यत्/Future), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन, परस्मैपदम्

• दुर्मतिः: the evil-minded one
• दुर्मतिः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुर् (उपसर्ग/उपपद) + मति (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति (कर्ता), एकवचन

Speaker

Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya; the verse itself is phrased as a punitive decree within the story)

Parashara-Maitreya Dialogue

Speaker: Parasara

Teaching: Devotional

Quality: compassionate

Philosophical Teaching

Concept: Even time (a ‘thousand years’) and harsh environments cannot extinguish the life of one upheld by devotion and the Lord’s protective will.

Vedantic Theme: Moksha

Application: Treat long trials as occasions for sustained practice—japa, remembrance, and ethical steadiness—rather than as proof of abandonment.

Vishishtadvaita: The Lord’s grace (śeṣin’s rakṣaṇa) preserves the śeṣa-bhakta through temporal suffering, pointing to a personal, relational salvation.

Prahlada Narrative

Phase: Persecution

Bhakti Quality: Endurance (titikṣā) and unwavering remembrance through prolonged trial

Vaishnava Theology

Bhakti Type: Shanta

Characters & Entities

• Mountains (Mahīdharas)
• Waters/river-current (Toyadhā)

FAQs

What is the significance of a “thousand-year” punishment in the Vishnu Purana?

It dramatizes karmic fruition through vast time-scales—wrongdoing is not escaped, but ripens with certainty within cosmic order (dharma).

How does Sage Parāśara explain the working of dharma through narrative events?

By embedding moral law in concrete episodes: an evil-minded offender is constrained by nature itself (mountains and waters) and meets an inevitable outcome over time.

What is the theological importance of Lord Vishnu in this context?

Even when not named in the verse, the Purana frames such moral inevitability as operating under Vishnu’s supreme sovereignty—order, time, and consequence ultimately rest in the Lord’s governance.