Varaha Purana 16.32: Adhyaya 16, Shloka 32
The Account of Saramā: Indra’s Restoration after Loss of Sovereignty
Pūrva Bhāga · Indra-Bala-Vardhana (Yajña and Royal Power Motif)
चकार यज्ञान् विविधान् सहस्रानपि स प्रभुः । क्रियमाणैस्ततो यज्ञैर्ववृद्धेन्द्रस्य तद् बलम् ॥ १६.३२ ॥
cakāra yajñān vividhān sahasrān api sa prabhuḥ | kriyamāṇais tato yajñair vavṛddhendrasya tad balam || 16.32 ||
chakAra yaj~nAn vividhAn sahastrAnapi sa prabhuH | kriyamANaistato yaj~nairvavRRidhendrasya tad balam || 16.32 ||
उसने हज़ारों जगह किए, कई तरह के। जब वो सब हो रहे थे, तब इंद्र की ताकत बढ़ती गई।
Sandhi Notes
- सहस्रानपि = सहस्रान् अपि
- यज्ञैर्ववृद्धेन्द्रस्य = यज्ञैः ववृद्ध इन्द्रस्य
Varāha
Collective, well-performed dharmic action (yajña) generates tangible strength and order in the world.
Undertake disciplined, community-benefiting rites/acts (service, charity, vows) with correctness and intention to build stability and inner strength.
Yajña is the engine of cosmic order; Indra’s increased bala through yajña mirrors the Purāṇic idea that deities are ‘nourished’ by sacrifice—anticipating the Varāha Purāṇa’s broader yajña-centered theology where Viṣṇu/Varāha is the inner recipient of all offerings.
Implicit (not anatomized here): yajña as a body/cosmos correspondence—offerings become strength (bala) for the cosmic ruler; this aligns with the later/elsewhere Yajña-Varāha mapping where the deity embodies the sacrifice.
Karma-kāṇḍa yields worldly/cosmic results (bala, aiśvarya) within saṃsāra; higher reading: all ritual efficacy depends on the supreme (Viṣṇu) as antaryāmin, so power accrues when action aligns with dharma.
A ruler consolidates authority through public yajñas; ritual performance is presented as a means to augment legitimate power and stability.
Properly executed sacrifices increase strength/tejas and support governance; neglect of dharmic rites implies weakening of authority (by narrative contrast).
Varāha Purāṇa 16.16.33 (strength leads to mobilization)
FAQs
It reflects a widely attested Purāṇic and post-Vedic motif in which the performance of yajña (sacrificial rites) is linked to the maintenance or augmentation of cosmic and political order, here expressed through the strengthening of Indra as a paradigmatic sovereign deity.
No specific geographic location is named in this verse; it is framed around ritual action and its cosmological consequence rather than a tīrtha or regional toponym.
The verse foregrounds the principle that disciplined, properly executed communal rites (yajña) are portrayed as contributing to collective stability and the strengthening of legitimate authority within the narrative’s cosmological framework.
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