Varaha Purana 41.32: Adhyaya 41, Shloka 32
Rite of the Varāha Dvādaśī Vow and an Exemplary Narrative on Expiation for Brahmin-Slaying
Pūrva Bhāga · Pṛthivī-uddhāra (Varāha–Pṛthivī Dialogue)
पाताले सुतलाख्ये च यथा धात्री निमज्जती । उद्धृता देवदेवेन विष्णुना क्रोडमूर्त्तिना ॥ ४१.३२ ॥
pātāle sutalākhye ca yathā dhātrī nimajjati | uddhṛtā devadevena viṣṇunā kroḍamūrttinā || 41.32 ||
pAtAle sutalAkhye cha yathA dhAtrI nimajjatI | uddhRRitA devadevena viShNunA kroDamUrttinA || 41.32 ||
जैसे धरती पताल में डूब रही थी, सुतला नाम की जगह पे। तब विष्णु ने सुअर का रूप लिया और धरती को उठा लिया। वो सब देवताओं के भगवान हैं।
Sandhi Notes
- सुतल-आख्ये (समास)
- देव-देवेन (समास)
- क्रोड-मूर्त्तिना (समास)
Varāha
Overwhelmed and sinking (nimajjati) into the netherworld; in need of rescue
When the foundation of life (Earth/dharma) is threatened, the Supreme acts directly as protector and restorer.
Cultivate śaraṇāgati (refuge) in Viṣṇu during collective or personal ‘sinking’—crisis is met by divine support, not despair.
क्रोडमूर्त्ति (boar-bodied Viṣṇu)
Uplifts Dhātrī (Earth) from sinking into Pātāla/Sutala—an explicit उद्धार (raising up) act
Varāha as the cosmic stabilizer: when the world-support (Dhātrī) sinks into the abyss, the Supreme assumes a tangible form to re-ground dharma and the cosmos; the avatāra bridges transcendence and immanence.
Implicit yajña-Varāha motif (Viṣṇu as देवदेव, world-sustainer) without explicit limb-to-ritual mappings in this verse.
Īśvara’s līlā as जगत्कारण (cosmic cause) and dharma-saṃsthāpana: the Absolute freely manifests to uphold the order of the worlds.
Varāha Purāṇa: recurring Bhū-uddhāra narrative frames and cosmography passages
FAQs
It preserves a core Purāṇic motif—Earth’s submergence and restoration—used across early Sanskrit literature to express cosmic renewal and the stabilization of the world-order (dharma) through mythic narration.
Sutala is named as a realm within Pātāla (the netherworld). In scholarship it is treated as a mythic-cosmographic location rather than a directly mappable terrestrial site.
The verse frames Earth as a valued, protectable entity and presents restoration (uddhāra) as an ideal response to ecological or cosmic disruption—an ethic of safeguarding and re-stabilizing the world.
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