Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 17
Genealogies of Yadus and Vṛṣṇis; Navaratha’s Refuge to Sarasvatī; Rise of Sāttvata Tradition; Prelude to Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Incarnation
स तद्वेगेन महता संप्राप्य मतिमान् नृपः / ववन्दे शिरसा दृष्ट्वा साक्षाद् देवीं सरस्वतीम्
sa tadvegena mahatā saṃprāpya matimān nṛpaḥ / vavande śirasā dṛṣṭvā sākṣād devīṃ sarasvatīm
Porté par cet élan puissant, le roi avisé parvint au lieu; et, voyant la déesse Sarasvatī se tenir manifestement devant lui, il s’inclina, la tête courbée, en signe de vénération.
Narrator (Purāṇic sūta-style narration within the Kurma Purana’s Indradyumna cycle)
Primary Rasa: bhakti
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
Indirectly: the verse emphasizes sākṣāt-darśana—direct apprehension of the divine. In Kurma Purana’s broader teaching, such immediacy points to a reality that is not merely inferred but realized, aligning with the Purāṇic move from conceptual knowledge to lived, transformative insight.
The verse highlights the yogic fruit of focused momentum (vega) culminating in darśana and namaskāra. In Kurma Purana’s spiritual grammar, disciplined pursuit leading to humility (śirasā vandanā) functions as a bhakti-yoga disposition that complements jñāna and vrata-based sādhana.
Though Śiva and Viṣṇu are not explicitly named here, the scene reflects the Kurma Purana’s integrative ethos: devotion and reverence to a manifest deity (Devī Sarasvatī) is treated as consonant with the larger Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, where multiple divine forms are approached without sectarian rupture.