Varaha Purana 47.3: Adhyaya 47, Shloka 3
The Rite of Śrāvaṇa Bright-Fortnight Dvādaśī (Dāmodara Worship) and the Exemplum of King Nṛga
Pūrva Bhāga · Ritual Identification (Nyāsa/Deity-Body Mapping)
चक्रपाणयेति भुजौ कण्ठं च हरये तथा । मुञ्जकेशाय च शिरो भद्रायेति शिखां तथा ॥ ४७.३ ॥
cakrapāṇayeti bhujau kaṇṭhaṃ ca haraye tathā | muñjakeśāya ca śiro bhadrāyeti śikhāṃ tathā || 47.3 ||
chakrapANayeti bhujau kaNThaM cha haraye tathA | mu~njakeshAya cha shiro bhadrAyeti shikhAM tathA || 47.3 ||
चक्रपाणि बोलके दोनों हाथ भगवान को दे दो। हरे बोलके गला दे दो। मुंजकेश बोलके सिर दे दो। और भद्र बोलके जो चोटी है वो दे दो।
Sandhi Notes
- cakrapāṇayeti = cakrapāṇaye + iti
- bhadrāyeti = bhadrāya + iti
Varāha
Consecrate action, speech, and intention by ‘placing’ the Lord’s names upon the limbs that enact them.
During worship, touch the specified limbs while reciting each name distinctly; maintain śaucā and mental visualization of the Lord’s attributes (cakra, hari-bhāva).
Nyāsa aligns the devotee’s limbs with divine functions: arms (power/action) to the discus-bearer, throat (speech/breath) to Hari, head/topknot (identity/resolve) to specific epithets—ritualizing the whole person as Viṣṇu-oriented.
Implicit yajña-body mapping: arms as instruments of offering/action, throat as recitation channel, head/śikhā as vow-marker.
Supports disciplined antahkaraṇa orientation: karma (arms), vāk/prāṇa (throat), buddhi/saṅkalpa (head) offered to the Lord—an upāsanā bridge toward inner renunciation.
Continue aṅga-nyāsa: arms to Cakrapāṇi, throat to Hari, head to Muñjakeśa, and śikhā to Bhadrā (as per the given mantra-assignments).
Following: completeness of nyāsa and strengthened mantra-siddhi (implied); omission: incomplete ritual installation and reduced efficacy.
Contributes to successful worship and accumulation of puṇya through disciplined practice.
Cakrapāṇi/Hari are pan-Vaiṣṇava; the name Muñjakeśa can be read as a specific epithet used in ritual naming.
Varāha Purāṇa 47.47.2 provides the earlier limb-assignments; together they form a complete nyāsa sequence
FAQs
It preserves a ritual-technical register within Purāṇic literature, reflecting how devotional and liturgical practices (such as aṅga-nyāsa/body-assignment of divine names) circulated in Sanskrit textual traditions alongside narrative material.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the content is primarily ritual and iconographic (assigning divine epithets to body parts).
Rather than an explicit ethical injunction, the verse conveys a disciplined contemplative practice: aligning bodily awareness with named divine attributes, emphasizing attentiveness, order, and intentionality in ritual performance.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Varaha Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
