Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 97

Portents at Bali’s Sacrifice and the Kośakāra’s Son: The Power of Past Karma

Devanagari script

भक्ष्यैश्च दाडिमफलैः पुष्णन्त्यहरहः पितः कदाचित् पद्मपत्राक्षी श्यामा पीनपयोधरा

Transliteration

bhakṣyaiśca dāḍimaphalaiḥ puṣṇantyaharahaḥ pitaḥ kadācit padmapatrākṣī śyāmā pīnapayodharā

Translation

“With various foods and with pomegranate fruits she nourished (me) day after day. At one time there was (a woman) lotus‑leaf‑eyed, dark‑complexioned, and full‑breasted.”

Speakers

• Narrator (first-person voice in the episode) describing a woman’s care; the broader frame-speaker is not provided in the excerpt.

Key Themes

• Narrative interlude within tīrtha-context
• Character portrait (nāyikā-lakṣaṇa style descriptors)
• Care/nourishment and domestic intimacy

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why does a Purāṇa with strong sacred-geography interests include such sensual/poetic description?

Many Purāṇas embed tīrtha-māhātmya within broader kathā (narrative) units. Descriptive kāvya-style epithets (e.g., padmapatrākṣī, pīnapayodharā) often appear to characterize agents in the story, heighten rasa, and motivate subsequent events that ultimately connect back to a vow, curse, merit, or tīrtha-result.

Does ‘payodharā’ have a technical meaning beyond ‘breasts’?

Yes. Literally ‘bearer of milk’ (payaḥ + dhara), it is a conventional poetic synonym for the bosom, frequently used in Sanskrit narrative to indicate youth and fertility; it is not a theological term here.

Is any tīrtha or river named here that should be indexed for Vāmana Purāṇa geography?

No. This verse contains no explicit toponyms. Any geographic indexing must come from surrounding verses/sections (not included in the excerpt).