Varaha Purana 24.1: Adhyaya 24, Shloka 1
The Birth of the Nāgas, Brahmā’s Curse, and the Pañcamī Observance
Pūrva Bhāga · Pṛthivī–Varāha Saṃvāda (Cosmological & Terrestrial Inquiry)
धरण्युवाच । कथं ते गात्रसंस्पर्शान्मूर्त्तिमन्तो महाबलाः । नागा बभूवुर्देवेश कारणं ते महीधर ॥ २४.१ ॥
dharaṇy uvāca | kathaṃ te gātrasaṃsparśān mūrtimanto mahābalāḥ | nāgā babhūvur deveśa kāraṇaṃ te mahīdhara || 24.1 ||
dharaNyuvAcha | kathaM te gAtrasaMsparshAnmUrttimanto mahAbalAH | nAgA babhUvurdevesha kAraNaM te mahIdhara || 24.1 ||
धरती ने कहा, देवताओं के स्वामी, यह नाग इतनी बड़ी ताकत वाले कैसे बन गए? आपके शरीर से मिलके उनकी शुरुआत कैसे हुई? धरती धरने वाले, बताइये क्या वजह थी?
Sandhi Notes
- धरण्युवाच = धरणी + उवाच (ई + उ → यु)
- गात्रसंस्पर्शान् = गात्र-संस्पर्शात् (त् + म् → न्म् in writing/recitation)
- बभूवुर्देवेश = बभूवुः + देवेश (visarga sandhi: ः + द् → र्)
Dharaṇī (Pṛthivī)
Curious; seeking etiological clarity about embodiment and lineage
How did the mighty embodied Nāgas arise through contact with your limbs, and what is the cause of their origin?
Embodiment (mūrtimatva) is not accidental; it is traced to a causal chain grounded in divine proximity and cosmic genealogy.
Cultivate śravaṇa and praśna (listening and precise questioning) as legitimate means to approach metaphysical problems in a dhārmic way.
Dialogic exchange: Bhū (Dharaṇī) questions the Earth-bearer (māhīdhara) about the causal origin of Nāgas arising from contact with his limbs.
The phrase ‘gātra-saṃsparśa’ (contact with the Lord’s limbs) can be read cosmologically: embodied species arise by proximity to the divine body, implying the Lord’s form as the generative matrix of names-and-forms (nāma-rūpa) within creation.
Implicit only: the Lord’s ‘limbs’ as loci of manifestation.
Supports a theistic Vedāntic causality: the Lord is both nimitta (efficient) and upādāna (material) cause insofar as beings ‘take form’ through relation to him.
Varāha–Bhū dialogue frame (throughout Varāha Purāṇa); Subsequent genealogy of Kaśyapa, Kadrū, and Nāgas in this chapter sequence
FAQs
It exemplifies the Purāṇic dialogue format, where Earth (Dharaṇī/Pṛthivī) poses etiological questions to a divine interlocutor, framing mythic origins as a structured inquiry into causation (kāraṇa).
No specific toponym or pilgrimage site is named in this verse; the focus is on cosmological/etiological explanation rather than sacred geography.
The verse primarily conveys an epistemic instruction: inquiry into causes and origins (kāraṇa-jijñāsā) through respectful questioning within a teacher–inquirer framework, rather than a direct moral injunction.
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