Varaha Purana 65.2: Adhyaya 65, Shloka 2
The Sovereignty Vow and the Cycle of Tithi-Based Observances
Pūrva Bhāga · Vrata–Kārtika Observances (Ritual Calendar and Domestic Dharma)
कार्तिकस्य तु मासस्य दशमी शुक्लपक्षिका । तस्यां नक्ताशनो नित्यं दिक्षु शुद्धबलिं हरेत् ॥ ६५.२ ॥
kārtikasya tu māsasya daśamī śuklapakṣikā | tasyāṁ naktāśano nityaṁ dikṣu śuddhabaliṁ haret || 65.2 ||
kArtikasya tu mAsasya dashamI shuklapakShikA | tasyAM naktAshano nityaM dikShu shuddhabaliM haret || 65.2 ||
कार्तिक महीने की शुक्ल पक्ष में, जब दसवीं तिथि होती है, तब यह व्रत शुरू करना है। उस दिन से रोज़ाना रात को खाना खाना है, दिन में नहीं। और चारों तरफ, खुले में, कुछ भी साफ चीज़ चढ़ानी है भगवान के लिए।
Sandhi Notes
- शुद्धबलिं → शुद्धबलिम् (अनुस्वार/मकार-परिवर्तन लेखनभेद)
- अन्य सन्धि स्पष्ट नहीं
Varāha
Purity and regulated living make ordinary acts (eating, offering) into sacred action.
Adopt time-restricted diet and simple offerings to structure life around restraint, cleanliness, and reverence for cosmic order.
Offering bali to the directions frames the body and cosmos as a yajña-field; the quarters become guardians of order (ṛta), echoing Purāṇic cosmology where Viṣṇu’s sustaining power stabilizes space.
Directions (diśaḥ) as yajña-boundaries; bali as appeasement/installation of spatial deities; naktāśana as tapas that ‘concentrates’ the sacrifice into a regulated time.
Discipline of senses (niyama) and sanctification of space suggest aligning individual action (karma) with cosmic order; the ‘quarters’ symbolize the manifold field of experience brought under sattvic regulation.
Kārtika-śukla-daśamī: observe naktāśana (eat only at night) and offer a pure bali in the cardinal directions.
Purification and directional auspiciousness; supports success in undertakings through ritual alignment with the quarters.
Purity (śuddhi) and auspicious support from the quarters; foundation for later stated digvijaya (directional success).
65.65.3-6 (mantra to directions; bali; naktāśana; digvijaya; ekādaśī-year vow)
FAQs
It reflects the Purāṇic codification of vrata-practices tied to the lunar calendar, illustrating how late-classical Sanskrit texts systematized household observances (dietary restraint and simple offerings) as part of normative ritual culture.
No specific toponym is named in this verse; instead, it refers generically to the ritual ‘directions’ (dikṣu), a common spatial framework in South Asian ritual manuals rather than a single identifiable site.
The verse promotes disciplined restraint (naktāśana—limiting eating to night) and ritual cleanliness (śuddha-bali), presenting self-regulation and orderly practice as key elements of the observance.
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