Vamana Purana — Sukeshi's Inquiry into Dharma, Shloka 11
Sukeshi’s Inquiry into Dharma: The Seven Dvipas and the Twenty-One Hells
आजघान तलेनेभं कुम्भमध्ये पदा करे जानुना च समाहत्य विषाणं प्रबभञ्ज च / 10.10 वाममुष्ट्या तथा पार्श्वं समाहत्यान्धकस्त्वरन् गजेन्द्रं पातयामास प्रहारैर्जर्जरीकृतम्
ājaghāna talenebhaṃ kumbhamadhye padā kare jānunā ca samāhatya viṣāṇaṃ prababhañja ca / 10.10 vāmamuṣṭyā tathā pārśvaṃ samāhatyāndhakastvaran gajendraṃ pātayāmāsa prahārairjarjarīkṛtam
Il frappa le seigneur des éléphants au front, au milieu de ses bosses, de la paume, du pied et de la main; il le heurta encore du genou et lui brisa une défense. Puis Andhaka, se hâtant, le frappa au flanc de son poing gauche et, l’ayant meurtri de coups répétés, abattit le roi des éléphants, le laissant disloqué.
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FAQs
Purāṇic battle scenes often stress that adharma can display terrifying effectiveness (even against symbols of royal/divine power like the elephant-king), but such force is narratively framed as ultimately self-defeating when set against cosmic order.
Vamśānucarita / narrative episode (deva–daitya struggle) rather than cosmogenesis; it contributes to the Purāṇic historical-mythic account of conflicts among exalted beings.
The elephant-king functions as a sign of sovereignty and stable rule (aiśvarya). Its battering and fall dramatize a temporary eclipse of orderly kingship by chaotic power—an image that typically prepares the way for restoration through divine alignment (often via a higher deity’s intervention later in the arc).