Shloka 43

Vamana's Three Steps — Vamana’s Three Steps and the Binding of Bali

Devanagari script

कृत्वा प्रमाणं स्वयसेव हीनं पदत्रयं याचितवान् भुवश्च किं त्वं न गृह्णासि जगत्त्रयं भो रूपेण लोकत्रयवन्दितेन

Transliteration

kṛtvā pramāṇaṃ svayaseva hīnaṃ padatrayaṃ yācitavān bhuvaśca kiṃ tvaṃ na gṛhṇāsi jagattrayaṃ bho rūpeṇa lokatrayavanditena

Translation

“Having assumed a measure (a small stature) as if by your own power diminished, you begged for three steps of land. Why then do you not take the three worlds, O (Lord), with that form which is revered by the three worlds?”

Speakers

• Unspecified in the provided excerpt (speaker addressing the Lord
• invoking the Vāmana episode).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Vāmana/Trivikrama)
• Bali (implied by the ‘three steps’ request)

Key Themes

• Vāmana’s humility and cosmic sovereignty
• Divine līlā (self-limitation ‘as if’ diminished)
• Trivikrama and the measurement of the worlds
• Devotion through mythic recollection

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why does the verse say the Lord became ‘hīna’ (diminished) ‘as if’ by his own power?

It signals līlā: the deity’s voluntary self-concealment. The small Vāmana form is not a real limitation but a chosen appearance that sets up the revelation of cosmic magnitude (Trivikrama).

Is ‘three steps of land’ literal or symbolic?

In the Bali narrative it is both: literally requested as a small grant, but symbolically it becomes the totality of space—earth, atmosphere, and heaven—measured by the Lord’s strides, expressing universal sovereignty.

How does this allusion function within a chapter focused on Kurukṣetra?

Purāṇic geography is often framed by theology: the sanctity of a place is reinforced by recalling the Lord’s cosmic acts. By invoking Vāmana/Trivikrama, the text links local holiness (a famed region like Kurukṣetra) to the universal Lord who pervades all realms.