Varaha Purana 148.49: Adhyaya 148, Shloka 49
The Greatness of Stutasvāmi: Varāha’s Disclosure of the Bhūtagiri Sacred Landscape and Its Ethical Discipline
Uttara Bhāga · Tīrtha–Kuṇḍa Māhātmya (Awe and rarity of sacred waters)
अगाधं तं हृदं भद्रे देवानामपि दुर्लभम् ॥ विस्मयं किं पुनस्तत्र मलयश्चञ्चलः स्थितः ॥
agādhaṁ taṁ hṛdaṁ bhadre devānām api durlabham || vismayaṁ kiṁ punas tatra malayaś cañcalaḥ sthitaḥ ||
agAdhaM taM hRRidaM bhadre devAnAmapi durlabham || vismayaM kiM punastatra malayashchaMchalaH sthitaH
वह सर बहुत गहरा है, इसकी गहराई का पता नहीं चलता। देवता भी इसको पाना मुश्किल समझते हैं। मलय वहाँ रहता है, वो हमेशा हिलता-दुलता रहता है। कोई अजब बात नहीं है।
Sandhi Notes
- devānām api = devānām + api
- punaḥ tatra = punas tatra (visarga sandhi: punaḥ → punas before t-)
- malayaś cañcalaḥ = malayaḥ + cañcalaḥ (visarga → ś before c-)
Varāha
Awed, receptive
The sacred exceeds ordinary measure; rarity and depth cultivate humility and reverence.
Approach holy sites with restraint and contemplative attention; let natural signs (wind, water, stillness) deepen recollection of the divine.
Unfathomable depth signifies inexhaustible merit and the immeasurable nature of the sacred; the restless Malaya breeze suggests prāṇa/vāyu animated by tīrtha-śakti.
Vāyu’s movement can be read as the ‘breath’ of yajña sustaining sacred space.
The ‘agādha’ (unplumbable) evokes Brahman’s ananta; sacred places function as pedagogical mirrors of the infinite—experienced as wonder rather than fully grasped.
Varāha Purāṇa 148.53 (Maṇi-kuṇḍa named); Varāha Purāṇa 148.55 (bathing practice and fruit)
FAQs
It highlights a rhetoric of rarity and awe used in tīrtha sections, valuable for understanding how Purāṇic texts sacralize natural features like lakes and winds.
The ‘hṛda’ is a specific lake within the described kṣetra; ‘Malaya’ may indicate the famed Malaya wind (sandalwood-region breeze) or a toponym, and needs contextual confirmation.
The verse frames the water-body as rare and extraordinary, encouraging a preservation-minded attitude toward exceptional natural sites.
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