Varaha Purana 39.35: Adhyaya 39, Shloka 35
Discrimination of the Three Bodies and the Dharaṇī Vow: A Manual for Dvādaśī Observance
ब्रह्माण्डोदरतीर्थानि करैः स्पृष्टानि देव ते । तेनैमां मृत्तिकां स्पृष्ट्वा मा लभामि त्वयोदिताम् ॥ ३९.३५ ॥
brahmāṇḍodaratīrthāni karaiḥ spṛṣṭāni deva te | tenemāṃ mṛttikāṃ spṛṣṭvā mā labhāmi tvayoditām || 39.35 ||
Ô Deva, les tīrtha sacrés situés à l’intérieur de l’œuf cosmique ont été touchés par tes mains. Ainsi, en touchant cette terre (argile), puissé-je obtenir ce que tu as proclamé.
Pṛthivī (default dialogue framework; supplicant voice addressing Varāha as 'deva')
Earth (Pṛthivī) addresses Varāha/Deva, grounding the efficacy of clay-touch in the deity’s sanctifying touch across all tīrthas.
Since your hands have touched all tīrthas within the brahmāṇḍa, may touching this clay grant me the boon you have proclaimed—how does your touch transmit tīrtha-power?
supplicant, seeking assurance of fruit through the deity’s sanctifying contact
Touching consecrated earth/clay is efficacious because the Lord’s sanctifying touch pervades all sacred fords; therefore one should touch the clay to obtain the declared fruit.
Faithful performance yields the stated benefit; skepticism/irreverence obstructs the intended fruit (phala) of the rite.
The Lord’s hands are imagined as having contacted all tīrthas inside the cosmic egg (brahmāṇḍa), implying a pan-cosmic sacrality: local clay becomes a portable tīrtha through divine pervasion and contact.
‘Hands touching tīrthas’ parallels yajña where the adhvaryu’s consecrated touch transfers sanctity to substances; here the deity is the supreme consecrator, making mṛttikā a condensed tīrtha.
Immanence: the sacred is not confined to a single site; divine presence (antarvyāpti) makes the cosmos a field of sanctification, accessed through śraddhā and right ritual gesture.
Sacred power is transferable through divine contact; the cosmos is internally sacral when seen through the lens of the Lord’s pervasive presence.
Approach even small ritual acts (touching clay) with full śraddhā, seeing them as participation in a larger sacred order rather than mere symbolism.
Varāha Purāṇa 39.39.34 (earth-clay mantra); Varāha Purāṇa 39.39.36 (Varuṇa/waters purify the clay)
FAQs
The verse reflects a Purāṇic habit of mapping sacred sites (tīrthas) onto a cosmological framework (the brahmāṇḍa), showing how pilgrimage ideology was integrated with learned models of the universe in early medieval Sanskrit literature.
No single named terrestrial location is specified in this fragment; the expression “brahmāṇḍodaratīrthāni” is cosmological rather than a direct reference to an identifiable historical place.
The passage foregrounds the idea that contact with sanctified “earth/clay” (mṛttikā) and recognition of sacred landscapes can be a means of purification and moral-spiritual improvement, aligning ritual practice with reverent engagement with the natural world.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Varaha Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
