Varaha Purana 21.5: Adhyaya 21, Shloka 5
The Disruption of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice, the Hari-Hara Conflict, and the Establishment of Rudra’s Sacrificial Share
Pūrva Bhāga · Cosmogonic Narratives (Sarga-prasaṅga)
सर्गकालेषु तं ब्रह्मा तपसा प्रत्युवाच ह । रुद्र प्रजाः सृजस्वेति पौनःपुन्येन चोदितः । असमर्थोऽहमिति जले निमज्जत महाबलः ॥ २१.६ ॥
sargakāleṣu taṁ brahmā tapasā pratyuvāca ha | rudra prajāḥ sṛjasveti paunaḥpunyena coditaḥ | asamartho 'ham iti jale nimajjata mahābalaḥ || 21.6 ||
sargakAleShu taM brahmA tapasA pratyuvAcha ha | rudra prajAH sRRijasveti paunaHpunyena choditaH | asamartho.ahamiti jale nimajjata mahAbalaH || 21.6 ||
En los tiempos de la creación, Brahmā le habló mediante el poder de la ascesis. Reiteradamente exhortado: «Rudra, crea a los seres», el poderoso, diciendo «no soy capaz», se sumergió en las aguas.
Sandhi Notes
- असमर्थोऽहमिति = असमर्थः + अहम् + इति
- सृजस्वेति = सृजस्व + इति
- निमज्जत (पाठभेदे निमज्जत्/निमज्जत्) लङ् 3sg
- पौनःपुन्येन अव्ययीभाव-समास-सम्भावना न, प्रातिपदिकरूपेण तृतीया।
Varāha
Concerned/curious by implication: hearing of a cosmic impasse when Rudra refuses creation and withdraws into waters.
Why does Rudra refuse Brahmā’s command to create, and what is the significance of his submerging into the waters?
Duty must be matched with adhikāra (capacity/fitness); forced action without inner readiness leads to withdrawal or dysfunction.
Assess competence before accepting roles; when overwhelmed, seek tapas/training rather than denial—balance obedience to duty with honest appraisal and disciplined preparation.
Rudra’s ‘nimajjana in jala’ can symbolize pralaya-like withdrawal of manifesting power back into undifferentiated potential; waters function as the womb of re-creation and the boundary between manifest/unmanifest.
Symbolic ‘waters’ align with cosmic causal matrix from which later avatāra acts (including Varāha’s earth-lifting in broader Purāṇic frame).
Points to the oscillation between pravṛtti (engagement) and nivṛtti (withdrawal); the same absolute power can appear as creator or renunciant depending on cosmic need and guṇa-dynamics.
A superior repeatedly enjoins duty (niyoga) for loka-saṅgraha; refusal/withdrawal from assigned function creates a governance gap requiring alternative delegation.
Acceptance of appointed duty sustains order; refusal leads to stagnation/imbalance in creation, prompting compensatory measures by the cosmic administrator (Brahmā).
Varāha Purāṇa 21.21.3 (Rudra’s origin) leading to his later stance toward creation
FAQs
It reflects a common Purāṇic cosmogonic motif: the delegation of creation tasks among deities and the use of tapas (ascetic potency) as an authoritative force in narrative cosmology.
No specific geographic location is named in this verse; it is set in a mythic-cosmic context (“times of creation”) rather than a terrestrial sacred geography frame.
The verse foregrounds responsibility and capacity in delegated action: when urged to undertake creation, the figure expresses incapacity, highlighting the tension between command and competence within cosmological order.
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