Varaha Purana 52.7: Adhyaya 52, Shloka 7
The Genealogy of Trivarṇa, Manohvā, and the Akṣa Lineage, with the Construction of the Nine-Gated City
Pūrva Bhāga · Narrative Dialogue (Varāha–Pṛthivī Framework)
ततस्तत्पुरसंस्थस्तु पशुपालो महान्नृपः । संसूच्य वाचकाञ्छब्दान् वेदान् सस्मार तत्पुरे ॥ ५२.७ ॥
tatastatpurasam̐sthastu paśupālo mahānnṛpaḥ | saṃsūcya vācakāñ chabdān vedān sasmāra tatpure || 52.7 ||
tatastatpurasaMsthastu pashupAlo mahAnRRipaH | saMsUchya vAchakA~nChabdAn vedAn sasmAra tatpure || 52.7 ||
वो बड़ा राजा उस शहर में रहने लगा। जानवरों को पालता था। कुछ शब्दों को इशारा बनाया। फिर उसने वहाँ वेदों को याद किया।
Varāha
True knowledge can be reawakened through right ‘indicators’ (saṅketa/vācaka) and saṃskāra; memory becomes a vehicle of revelation.
Use disciplined prompts—mantra openings, key pādas, teacher-given cues—to restore learning; keep daily recitation even amid occupational change.
Veda as ‘remembered’ (smṛti-like function) within a king-cowherd figure hints that dharma is upheld by inner realization rather than external station—an echo of yajña upheld by the presiding consciousness.
Śruti is nitya; ‘sasmāra vedān’ gestures to the doctrine of eternal Veda accessed by purified intellect (buddhi) and saṃskāra.
Even when occupying a pastoral role, the ruler preserves śruti through proper cues (vācaka-śabda) and recollection/recitation, sustaining dharma in the community.
Maintenance of Vedic memory supports social order and merit; neglect leads to dharma-kṣaya and loss of royal legitimacy.
52.52.8 (vrata/niyama/kratu performance as continuation of Vedic life)
FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic narrative motif in which royal identity and social role (here, a king as a cattle-keeper) coexist, while emphasizing the cultural prestige of Vedic recollection and verbal cues in transmission.
The verse refers only to “that city” (tatpura/tatpure) without naming a specific place; a precise modern identification cannot be made from this fragment alone.
A philosophical instruction implied here is the valuation of learning and disciplined memory (smṛti) of authoritative knowledge, regardless of one’s outward social function at a given moment.
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