Shloka 29

Indra's Campaign on Mount Malaya — Indra’s Campaign on Mount Malaya and the Birth of the Maruts (Origin of the Epithet Gotrabhid)

Devanagari script

तमन्तरमशौचस्य ज्ञात्वा देवः सहस्रदृक् विवेश मातुरुदरं नासारन्ध्रेण नारद

Transliteration

tamantaramaśaucasya jñātvā devaḥ sahasradṛk viveśa māturudaraṃ nāsārandhreṇa nārada

Translation

Knowing that interval of impurity (aśauca)—that vulnerable gap—the god Sahasradṛk (Indra) entered the mother’s womb through the nostril, O Nārada.

Speakers

• Narrator to Nārada

Primary Deities

• Indra

Key Themes

• Aśauca (ritual impurity) as narrative opening
• Indra’s intervention
• Subtle-body entry motif
• Conception/embodiment themes

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is meant by ‘aśauca’ here—moral impurity or ritual impurity?

In Purāṇic usage, aśauca primarily denotes ritual impurity/inauspiciousness (a temporary state affecting eligibility and protection in rites). The verse frames it as an ‘antara’—a liminal opening—rather than a moral failing.

How should we understand ‘entering the womb through the nostril’?

It is a mythic motif of subtle entry (sūkṣma-praveśa), indicating divine agency operating beyond ordinary physical constraints. The nostril is also a prāṇa-gateway in Indic physiology, making it a symbolically apt channel for such entry.

Does this verse contain any geographic/tīrtha data typical of the Vāmana Purāṇa?

No. Despite the Purāṇa’s strong sacred-geography orientation, these ślokas are purely narrative and physiological-symbolic; no rivers, forests, lakes, or tīrthas are named in the provided text.