Varaha Purana 214.39: Adhyaya 214, Shloka 39
The Glory of Gokarṇa: Description of Nandikeśvara’s Boon and the Assembly of Deities on Mount Muñjavat
Uttara Bhāga · Sacred Geography & Deva-Assemblies (Pilgrimage Topography)
सिन्धुश्च पुरुषश्चैव सरयूश्च महानदी ॥ ताम्रारुणा चारुभागा वितस्ता कौशिकी तथा ॥
sindhuś ca puruṣaś caiva sarayūś ca mahānadī || tāmrāruṇā cārubhāgā vitastā kauśikī tathā ||
siMdhushcha puruShashchaiva sarayUshcha mahAnadI|| tAmrAruNA chArubhAgA vitastA kaushikI tathA
सिंधु, पुरुष और सरयू बड़ी नदी आई। ताम्रारुणा, चारुभागा, वितस्ता और कौशिकी भी आई।
Sandhi Notes
- सिन्धुश्च = सिन्धुः + च
- पुरुषश्चैव = पुरुषः + च + एव
- सरयूश्च = सरयूः + च
- ताम्रारुणा चारुभागा = ताम्रारुणा + च + अरुभागा
Varāha
Nature is not inert: rivers are sacred presences whose remembrance and contact purify and connect regions into one dharmic landscape.
Cultivate tīrtha-bhāva: approach rivers with reverence, restraint, and gratitude; use river-names in japa/saṅkalpa to anchor pilgrimage-intent.
Rivers personified as sacred powers indicate the world’s waters as living participants in dharma; in Varāha’s cosmology, waters are the matrix from which Earth is raised and sustained.
Waters as ‘āpaḥ’ supporting yajña: rivers as flowing oblations; confluence imagery parallels soma-streams; the ‘great river’ epithet recalls cosmic waters surrounding the raised Earth.
Āpaḥ as a tattva within cosmic manifestation; sacred rivers as embodiments of purifying śakti, pointing to the non-dual ground where nature (prakṛti) participates in the divine order.
Varaha Purana, same narrative sequence: lists of beings (apsarases, rishis) surrounding the same ‘assembly’ event
FAQs
It preserves a river-catalogue that can be compared with historical hydrography and regional sacred geography traditions in early Sanskrit literature.
Multiple rivers are named, including Sindhu (Indus), Sarayū, and Vitastā (commonly identified with the Jhelum in Kashmir studies).
By presenting rivers as participants, the text implicitly frames waterways as living cultural heritage, supporting norms of respect and stewardship toward riverine environments.
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