Birth of Skanda (Kartikeya) Shloka 73 - Vamana Purana | French | Vedapath

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Vamana Purana — Birth of Skanda (Kartikeya), Shloka 73

The Birth and Consecration of Skanda (Kartikeya) at Kurukshetra

Devanagari script

अनन्तः शङ्कुपीठश्च निकुम्भः कुमुदो ऽम्बुजः एकाक्षः कुनटी चक्षुः किरीटी कलशोदरः

Transliteration

anantaḥ śaṅkupīṭhaśca nikumbhaḥ kumudo 'mbujaḥ ekākṣaḥ kunaṭī cakṣuḥ kirīṭī kalaśodaraḥ

Translation

« (Les voici :) Ananta, Śaṅkupīṭha, Nikumbha, Kumuda, Ambuja, Ekākṣa, Kunaṭī, Cakṣu, Kirīṭin et Kalaśodara. »

Word by Word

anantaḥAnanta (name)

śaṅkupīṭhaḥŚaṅkupīṭha (name)

caand

nikumbhaḥNikumbha (name)

kumudaḥKumuda (name)

ambujaḥAmbuja (name; lotus-born)

ekākṣaḥEkākṣa (one-eyed; name)

kunaṭīKunaṭī (name)

cakṣuḥCakṣuḥ (Eye; name)

kirīṭīKirīṭī (crowned; name)

kalaśodaraḥKalaśodara (pot-bellied; name)

Speakers

Narrator voice within the Purāṇic dialogue (exact interlocutors not provided in the excerpt) listing names of Guha/Skanda’s gaṇas.

Primary Deities

Skanda (Guha/Kārttikeya)

Key Themes

Skanda cult and retinueCataloguing of attendant deities (gaṇa-nāma)Integration of yakṣa elements into Skanda’s entourage

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Are these names meant as symbolic epithets or as individual beings?

In this passage they function primarily as proper names of individual gaṇas in Guha/Skanda’s retinue. Many names are semantically transparent (e.g., Ekākṣa ‘one-eyed’, Kalaśodara ‘pot-bellied’), reflecting the Purāṇic habit of encoding iconographic or character traits into names.

Why do gaṇa lists appear in a text with strong geographical interests like the Vāmana Purāṇa?

Purāṇic tīrtha sections often embed local cultic ecology—who guards a place, which retinues attend a deity, and what subsidiary beings are worshipped. Such catalogues can map a sacred landscape socially (through divine attendants) even when a specific river or tīrtha is not named in the immediate verse.

Does ‘Ananta’ here refer to Śeṣa/Ananta of Viṣṇu?

Not necessarily. ‘Ananta’ is a common theonym/epithet and can be borne by different classes of beings. In this context it is one among several gaṇa names tied to Guha/Skanda, not explicitly linked to Viṣṇu’s serpent Ananta-Śeṣa.