Vamana Purana — Ritadhvaja Aids Galava, Shloka 20
Ritadhvaja’s Aid to Galava and Andhaka’s Infatuation with Gauri
अथोवाचासुरो मूढो वचनं मन्मथान्धकः कस्येयं चारुसर्वाङ्गी वने चरति सुन्दरी
athovācāsuro mūḍho vacanaṃ manmathāndhakaḥ kasyeyaṃ cārusarvāṅgī vane carati sundarī
Alors l’Asura égaré, Andhaka—aveuglé par Manmatha (Kāma)—prononça ces paroles : «À qui appartient cette femme si belle, gracieuse en tous ses membres, qui chemine dans la forêt ?»
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FAQs
It marks Andhaka as ‘blinded by Manmatha’—a rhetorical diagnosis that his perception and judgment are overridden by erotic compulsion. The Purāṇic style often encodes psychological states as divine agencies (here, Kāma).
The phrasing ‘kasya iyam’ reflects a possessive social imagination—viewing the woman as belonging to someone (husband/father/household). In the Andhaka narrative, this possessive impulse is part of his adharma and foreshadows his attempt to appropriate what is not his.
Not in this verse. Without a proper-name (e.g., a named vana, tirtha, or mountain), it remains a generic forest setting used to stage the encounter.