Varaha Purana 5.19: Adhyaya 5, Shloka 19
Reconciliation of Action and Knowledge: Offering All Acts to Nārāyaṇa and the Hymn to the Yajña-Puruṣa
तत्रासीनं महायूथं हरिणानां विचक्षणः । लुब्धो निष्ठुरको नाम धनुःपाणिः कृतान्तवत् । आययौ तं जिघांसुः स धनुष्यायोज्य सायकम् ॥ ५.१९ ॥
tatrāsīnaṃ mahāyūthaṃ hariṇānāṃ vicakṣaṇaḥ | lubdho niṣṭhurako nāma dhanuḥpāṇiḥ kṛtāntavat | āyayau taṃ jighāṃsuḥ sa dhanuṣy āyojya sāyakam || 5.19 ||
वहाँ बहुत सारे डीर बैठे थे। एक शिकारी आया, निष्ठुर नाम का, हाथ में धनुष। वो मारना चाहता था, तीर धनुष पे लगा के।
Varāha (default narrative frame; speaker not explicit in this verse-fragment)
FAQs
It preserves a common Purāṇic narrative motif—an encounter between vulnerable wildlife and a human aggressor—used to set up subsequent moral, karmic, or didactic developments in the storyline.
No specific toponym is given in this verse; it situates the scene generically (“tatra,” ‘there’), likely within a forest setting implied by the presence of a deer herd.
The verse foregrounds intention (jighāṃsuḥ, ‘wishing to kill’) and the portrayal of cruelty (niṣṭhura-) as ethically charged narrative signals, preparing a reflective stance on violence toward living beings.
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