Shloka 16

Prahlada at Kurukshetra — Prahlada’s Kurukshetra Pilgrimage and the Origin of the Chakra–Trishula Exchange

Devanagari script

विधानतस्तु तान् देवान् पूजयित्वा तपोधन षड्रात्रं तत्र च स्थित्वा जगाम मधुनन्दिनीम्

Transliteration

vidhānatastu tān devān pūjayitvā tapodhana ṣaḍrātraṃ tatra ca sthitvā jagāma madhunandinīm

Translation

Then, having worshipped those deities according to prescribed rite, O treasure of austerity, and having stayed there for six nights, he went on to (the tirtha/river) Madhunandinī.

Speakers

• Narrative voice addressing an ascetic interlocutor (‘tapodhana’) while recounting the pilgrimage sequence

Primary Deities

• Shiva (implied from prior verse)
• Brahma (implied)
• Prajapati (implied)

Key Themes

• Ritual orthopraxy (vidhi)
• Pūjā (worship)
• Vrata-style time observance (six nights)
• Pilgrimage itinerary (tirtha-to-tirtha movement)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is the significance of staying ‘six nights’ (ṣaḍrātra) at a tirtha?

Fixed-night observances are a common Purāṇic pattern: the merit of bathing is intensified by a regulated stay, worship, and restraint. ‘Ṣaḍrātra’ functions like a mini-vrata, marking completeness of a rite-cycle before moving onward.

Is Madhunandinī a river or a tirtha?

The feminine proper name and the context ‘jagāma’ (he went to) after a bathing-and-worship sequence strongly suggest a named sacred water-body—typically a river or a tirtha associated with a riverbank/ford. In Vāmana Purāṇa’s geographic style, such names often denote both the river and its principal bathing-ghāṭa.

Why does the narrator address someone as ‘tapodhana’?

It is a conventional vocative used in Purāṇic narration when a sage is the listener (or when the narrator frames the account for ascetics). It signals that the teaching is oriented toward dharma and pilgrimage discipline.