Varaha Purana 113.18: Adhyaya 113, Shloka 18
Hymn to Varāha and Pṛthivī’s Inquiry
Prelude to the Sanatkumāra Dialogue
Uttara Bhāga · Cosmic stillness motif (absence of elements and lights)
न वाति पवनस्तत्र नैव चाग्निर्न विद्युतः ॥ न किञ्चित्तत्र विद्येत न तारा न च राशयः
na vāti pavanas tatra naiva cāgnir na vidyutaḥ || na kiñcit tatra vidyeta na tārā na ca rāśayaḥ
na vAti pavanastatra naiva chAgnirna vidyutaH || na kiMchittatra vidyeta na tArA na cha rAshayaH
ત્યાં પવન વહેતો ન હતો; ન અગ્નિ હતી, ન વિદ્યુત. ત્યાં કશું જ ન હતું—ન તારા, ન રાશિઓ (નક્ષત્રસમૂહ).
Sandhi Notes
- naiva cāgnir = na eva ca agniḥ (a + a → ā)
Ritual, time, and knowledge rely on elemental and astral order; their absence implies suspension of dharma’s external supports.
Value agni (discipline), vāyu (prāṇa regulation), and ‘light’ (study) as inner counterparts that sustain dharma even amid instability.
Elemental withdrawal: vāyu (movement), agni (transformation), and vidyut (sudden illumination) are absent—signifying a pre-creation/pralaya condition where even astral order (tārā, rāśi) is unmanifest.
With agni absent, yajña cannot proceed; with rāśis absent, calendrical/ritual timing collapses—implying the need for a cosmic ‘restorer’ to re-light agni and re-establish time.
Guṇa-sāmya (equilibrium) before manifestation: when differentiating functions cease, nāma-rūpa is not available; īśvara’s saṅkalpa reintroduces differentiation.
Continuation of 113.18’s darkness motif
FAQs
It catalogues the absence of elemental and astral markers, reflecting a Purāṇic way of narrating cosmic suspension or dissolution-like conditions.
No geographic location is identified.
No explicit ethical instruction is given; the verse is descriptive and cosmological.
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