Varaha Purana 18.2: Adhyaya 18, Shloka 2
The Origin of Fire and the Liturgical Names of Agni
आदित्यचन्द्रमातॄणां दुर्गायाः वा दिशां तथा । धनदस्य च विष्णोर्वा धर्मस्य परमेष्ठिनः ॥ १८.२ ॥
ādityacandramātṝṇāṃ durgāyā vā diśāṃ tathā | dhanadasya ca viṣṇor vā dharmasya parameṣṭhinaḥ || 18.2 ||
सूरज और चाँद का जनम कैसे हुआ? माँ दुर्गा का? दिशाओं का? धनद यानी कुबेर का? विष्णु का? धरम का? और ब्रह्मा का?
Varāha (default, speaker not explicit in the excerpt)
A catalogic invocation/listing of deities rather than a prescriptive rule.
The verse functions as a cosmological-ritual mapping: multiple devatās (luminaries, directions, guardians, Dharma, Brahmā, Viṣṇu) are invoked as loci of order, implying the Purāṇic view that the cosmos is a sacrificial/ritual field sustained by divine offices.
Implicit yajña-grid rather than explicit Varāha anatomy: Āditya/Candra as time-markers, Dik-devatās as spatial markers, Dharma as norm, Parameṣṭhin as creator-principle, Viṣṇu as sustaining principle.
Hints at a layered theism where many names denote functions within one ordered reality; compatible with Vaiṣṇava reading that Viṣṇu pervades and coordinates these offices (antaryāmin logic).
Divine plurality as ordered functions sustaining cosmos, time, wealth, law, and creation.
In ritual speech and ethical life, remember the relevant devatā-office (time, direction, wealth, dharma) and act in alignment with that cosmic order.
Varāha–Pṛthivī dialogue sections on devatā-origins and ritual timings (adjacent verses 18.18.3-4)
FAQs
It preserves a typical Purāṇic liturgical register: enumerating major deities and cosmic guardians as objects of remembrance or invocation, reflecting shared ritual vocabulary across early medieval Sanskrit textual culture.
No specific terrestrial location is named; the verse instead references cosmic directions (diśaḥ), a standard spatial framework in Indic cosmology and ritual orientation.
Implicitly, the verse promotes disciplined remembrance/acknowledgment of cosmic order and its guardians (Dharma, directions, major deities), aligning personal conduct with a broader moral-cosmic framework rather than prescribing sectarian obligation.
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