Varaha Purana 113.44: Adhyaya 113, Shloka 44
Hymn to Varāha and Pṛthivī’s Inquiry
Prelude to the Sanatkumāra Dialogue
Pūrva Bhāga · Sacred Geography and Natural Features (Rivers, Oceans, Mountains, Nāgas)
कला काष्ठापि षण्मासाः षड्रसाश्चापि संयमः॥ सरितः सागराश्च त्वं पर्वताश्च महोरगाः
kalā kāṣṭhāpi ṣaṇmāsāḥ ṣaḍ-rasāś cāpi saṃyamaḥ || saritaḥ sāgarāś ca tvaṃ parvatāś ca mahoragāḥ
kalA kAShThApi ShaNmAsAH ShaDrasAshchApi saMyamaH || saritaH sAgarAshcha tvaM parvatAshcha mahoragAH
तुम कला हो, तुम काष्ठ हो। तुम छह महीने हो, तुम छह स्वाद हो। तुम ही कंट्रोल हो। तुम नदिया हो, तुम समुंदर हो। तुम पहाड़ हो, तुम बड़े नाग हो।
Sandhi Notes
- काष्ठापि = काष्ठा + अपि
- षड्रसाश्चापि = षड्रसाः + च + अपि
- सागराश्च = सागराः + च
- पर्वताश्च = पर्वताः + च
Pṛthivī
Reverent, integrative—linking nature and conduct
‘How are both the outer world (waters, mountains, serpents) and inner discipline (saṃyama) grounded in you?’
Saṃyama (restraint) is as ‘cosmic’ as rivers and mountains—an expression of divine order.
Practice restraint in speech, diet, and conduct (noting ‘six tastes’ as a cue for moderation); cultivate ecological reverence—protect waters and mountains as sacred.
Pṛthivī expands the immanence-list to ethics (saṃyama), sensory taxonomy (six tastes), and terrestrial features (rivers, oceans, mountains, nāgas), attributing all to the addressed Lord.
The verse bridges cosmology and sādhana: the same divine reality manifests as the world’s ecology and as the moral-psychological power of restraint; this echoes the yajña-Varāha idea that cosmos and discipline are one sacrificial order.
Rivers/oceans as libation-flows (āhuti-drava), mountains as altars/supports, nāgas as chthonic guardians of waters; saṃyama as the ‘vow’ that stabilizes the sacrifice of life.
Non-duality of inner/outer: mind-restraint and material nature are not separate domains; both are pervaded by the same antaryāmin.
Varāha Purāṇa 113.45–47, 113.49 (same praise sequence)
FAQs
The verse combines natural geography (rivers, oceans, mountains) with cultural-ethical vocabulary (saṃyama), illustrating how Purāṇic texts integrate environmental features into a broader cosmological and normative worldview.
No single named site is specified here; instead, broad categories (rivers, oceans, mountains) are invoked as part of a universalized sacred geography.
The explicit ethical term is saṃyama (restraint/self-regulation), presented as part of the ordered cosmos and thus culturally valorized.
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