Vamana Purana — Manifestation of Katyayani, Shloka 22
The Manifestation of Katyayani (Durga) and the Humbling of the Vindhya by Agastya
नारद उवाच किर्मथमद्रिं भगवानगस्त्यस्तं निम्नशृङ्गं कृतवान् महर्षिः कस्मै कृते केन च कारणेन एतद् वदस्वामलसत्त्ववृत्ते
nārada uvāca kirmathamadriṃ bhagavānagastyastaṃ nimnaśṛṅgaṃ kṛtavān maharṣiḥ kasmai kṛte kena ca kāraṇena etad vadasvāmalasattvavṛtte
Dijo Nārada: «¿Cómo el bienaventurado sabio Agastya hizo que el monte Kirmatha (es decir, el Vindhya) quedara de cresta baja? ¿Por quién, y por qué causa, lo hizo? Dímelo, oh tú cuya conducta es de bondad sin mancha».
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FAQs
The verse frames a classic Purāṇic ethic: when pride (here, a mountain’s hubris) disrupts ṛta (cosmic order), a realized sage acts selflessly to restore balance. Inquiry into ‘for whose sake’ highlights that true power is exercised for loka-saṅgraha (the welfare of the world), not for personal display.
Primarily within Vamśānucarita/Carita-type narration (accounts of sages and cosmic events) and indirectly Sarga-related cosmological maintenance: the sun’s ordained course is part of cosmic functioning, and the story explains its preservation.
Vindhya/Kirmatha symbolizes inflated ego that ‘rises’ beyond measure; Agastya symbolizes tapas and discernment that ‘lowers the peak’—bringing excess back into proportion so the divine order (e.g., the sun’s movement) proceeds unobstructed.