Varaha Purana 111.6: Adhyaya 111, Shloka 6
The Eulogy of Donating a Tawny (Kapilā) Cow
कल्यमुत्थाय यो मर्त्यः कुर्यात्तासां प्रदक्षिणम् ॥ प्रदक्षिणी कृता तेन पृथिवी स्याद्वसुन्धरे ॥
kalyam utthāya yo martyaḥ kuryāt tāsāṃ pradakṣiṇam || pradakṣiṇī kṛtā tena pṛthivī syād vasundhare ||
जो बंदा सुबह जल्दी उठ के गायों का परिक्रमा करता है। उसके लिए पूरी धरती का परिक्रमा हो गया। धरती माँ खुश होती हैं।
Hotā (addressing Vasundharā = Pṛthivī)
Direct address to Vasundharā (Earth) as the one ‘circumambulated’ through cow-pradakṣiṇā; no Varāha action described.
How does circumambulating cows relate to honoring/circumambulating the Earth herself?
honored/affirmed (addressed as Vasundharā)
Rise at dawn and perform pradakṣiṇā of cows; this is equivalent to pradakṣiṇā of the Earth (Vasundharā).
Accrues vast merit by treating go-sevā as bhū-pūjā; neglect implies loss of a high-yield devotional act.
Equivalence principle: cows function as a living axis of dharma on Earth; honoring them ritually is honoring the planetary body that sustains life.
Indirect yajña logic: pradakṣiṇā mirrors cosmic order (ṛta) and the rightward movement of auspicious ritual around the sacred center.
Sevā as worship of the whole: reverence to a dharmic embodiment (cow) is reverence to the sustaining totality (Earth), collapsing part/whole duality in practice.
Care and reverence toward cows is a concrete mode of honoring Earth and sustaining dharma.
Integrate daily reverential acts (pradakṣiṇā, protection, feeding) as environmental-ethical practice, not mere symbolism.
Varāha Purāṇa 111.3.0–111.5.0 (kapilā sanctity and purification)
FAQs
It links a household ritual act (circumambulating cows) to a cosmic-scale symbol (circumambulating Earth), showing how Purāṇas integrate domestic practice with macrocosmic imagination.
Earth (Pṛthivī/Vasundharā) is invoked as a cosmic referent; no specific terrestrial site is named.
To cultivate reverence for living beings—especially cattle—framed as respect toward Earth as a shared habitat and source of prosperity.
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.
