Varaha Purana 113.40: Adhyaya 113, Shloka 40
Hymn to Varāha and Pṛthivī’s Inquiry
Prelude to the Sanatkumāra Dialogue
Pūrva Bhāga · Pṛthivī-Uddhāra / Cosmological Enumeration (Dhātu–Kāla–Jyotiḥ)
पृथिवी वायुराकाशमापोज्योतिश्च पञ्चमम्॥ शब्दस्पर्शस्वरूपोऽसि रसो गन्धोऽसि नो भवान्
pṛthivī vāyur ākāśam āpo jyotiś ca pañcamam || śabda-sparśa-svarūpo 'si raso gandho 'si no bhavān
pRRithivI vAyurAkAshamApojyotishcha pa~nchamam|| shabdasparshasvarUpo.asi raso gandho.asi no bhavAn
Tum dharti ho, hawa ho, aakash ho, paani ho. Aur fifth cheez, tum roshni ho. Tum awaaz ho, tum sparsh ho. Tum swaad ho, tum khushbu ho. Tum hi ho.
Sandhi Notes
- वायुराकाशम् = वायुः + आकाशम्
- आपोज्योतिः = आपः + ज्योतिः
- स्वरूपोऽसि = स्वरूपः + असि
- गन्धोऽसि = गन्धः + असि
Pṛthivī
Philosophically reflective, recognizing the Lord as the substance of elements and sensory qualities.
Are you the very elements and the sensory essences by which we experience the world?
The Lord pervades and constitutes the elements and the sensory qualities; experience itself is dependent on the divine ground.
Practice mindful reverence toward nature and the senses; use sensory life (sound, touch, taste, fragrance) as a doorway to remembrance rather than indulgence.
Yajña-Varāha is the cosmic body whose limbs are the elements and whose presence is the very field of sense-experience; the boar-avatāra thus signifies the Lord’s immanence in prakṛti while remaining its master.
Elemental mapping (pañcabhūta) and tanmātras (śabda, sparśa, rasa, gandha; with jyotis/tejas) function as a ‘cosmic anatomy’—a Purāṇic parallel to yajña-puruṣa mappings.
Supports a Viśiṣṭādvaita-like reading: the world (elements and qualities) as the Lord’s body (śarīra), with the Lord as inner controller (antaryāmin); also compatible with nondual immanence claims in stuti form.
Hymn progression: deity-as-devas (113.41), deity-as-avatāras (113.42), deity-beyond-time (113.43), deity-as-elements (113.44)
FAQs
It reflects a widely shared classical Indian cosmology that organizes matter into five elements (pañcabhūta) and associates them with sensory qualities, a framework seen across Purāṇic and philosophical literature.
No specific geographic site is named in this verse; the focus is elemental cosmology rather than sacred geography.
Implicitly, it frames the cosmos as an integrated whole, encouraging a worldview of interdependence that can support environmental stewardship without prescribing a specific rule.
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