Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 63
Dakṣa-yajña-bhaṅgaḥ — Dadhīci’s Teaching and the Destruction of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice
वह्नेर्हस्तद्वयं छित्त्वा जिह्वामुत्पाट्य लीलया / जघान मूर्ध्नि पादेन मुनीनपि मुनीश्वराः
vahnerhastadvayaṃ chittvā jihvāmutpāṭya līlayā / jaghāna mūrdhni pādena munīnapi munīśvarāḥ
Après avoir tranché les deux mains d’Agni et, comme par jeu, lui avoir arraché la langue, le seigneur parmi les sages frappa du pied le sommet de la tête, même des ṛṣis.
Narrator (Purāṇic narrator continuing the Kurma Purana’s account to the sages)
Primary Rasa: raudra
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By portraying overwhelming mastery over even cosmic forces like Agni and over revered sages, the verse implies a power beyond ordinary embodied agency—hinting at a transcendent lordship that, in later Kurma Purana teachings, is grounded in the Supreme Self’s sovereignty.
The verse is not a direct yoga-instruction, but it dramatizes mastery (vaśitva) and restraint—key yogic ideals. In the Kurma Purana’s broader Shaiva-Vaishnava synthesis, such control aligns with disciplined tapas and the yogic conquest of speech and appetite (symbolized by the tongue).
While this specific line is a narrative of overpowering might rather than explicit theology, it fits the Kurma Purana’s overall non-sectarian tone where supreme lordship is presented in ways compatible with both Shaiva and Vaishnava frameworks—emphasizing one sovereign divinity manifesting through different idioms.