Varaha Purana 67.4: Adhyaya 67, Shloka 4
On the Two ‘Sita-Kṛṣṇā’ Figures, the Sevenfold Ocean, and the Twelvefold Year
Pūrva Bhāga · Cosmological & Symbolic Taxonomies (Night/Day; Ethical Dualities)
अगस्त्य उवाच । सितकृष्णे स्त्रियौ ये ते ते भगिन्यौ प्रकीर्तिते । सत्यासत्ये द्विवर्णा च नारी रात्रिरुदाहृता ॥ ६७.४ ॥
agastya uvāca | sitakṛṣṇe striyau ye te te bhaginyau prakīrtite | satyāsatye dvivarṇā ca nārī rātrir udāhṛtā || 67.4 ||
agastya uvAcha | sitakRRiShNe striyau ye te te bhaginyau prakIrtite | satyAsatye dvivarNA cha nArI rAtrirudAhRRitA || 67.4 ||
अगस्त्य ने कहा, दो औरतें हैं, एक सफेद और एक काली। दोनों बहनें हैं यह। सच और झूठ, दोनों रंग, यह 'रात' नाम की औरत है ऐसे।
Sandhi Notes
- अगस्त्य उवाच → अगस्त्यः उवाच (विसर्ग)
- रात्रिरुदाहृता → रात्रिः उदाहृता (विसर्ग-सन्धि)
Agastya
Opposites (white/black) can be read as satya/asatya; the world’s experience is ‘two-colored’ like night—requiring discernment rather than naïve absolutism about appearances.
Practice satya in speech and intent; in ‘night-like’ situations (confusion, secrecy, fear), increase vigilance—choose clarity, restraint, and truthful counsel.
Śukla/Kṛṣṇa are decoded as cosmic-moral polarities (satya/asatya) and as temporal symbolism (night’s two tones: twilight and deep darkness). This is Purāṇic allegory: dualities are ‘sisters’—co-present within prakṛti—yet to be ethically navigated.
Implicit ritual-time mapping: night/twilight as sandhi where rites and restraints are prescribed; dual coloration evokes śukla/kṛṣṇa pakṣa logic without stating it.
Guṇa-dharma reading: light/clarity vs obscuration; satya aligns with sattva, asatya with tamas/rajas mixtures; both arise in the field of māyā while the Lord remains the ground.
Discern satya vs asatya: truth is aligned with auspicious order; untruth is a moral darkness—ethical life requires discrimination (viveka) especially in liminal ‘night-like’ conditions.
Truthfulness supports puṇya and clarity; falsehood accrues pāpa and leads to confusion/decline—symbolized by the encroaching ‘black’ aspect of night.
Only nominal resonance with ‘Kṛṣṇa’ as ‘black’; here it is symbolic (color/duality), not the cowherd of Mathurā.
67.67.1 (question about Sītā/Kṛṣṇā); 67.67.2-3 (broader cosmological inquiry that this symbolism begins to answer)
FAQs
It exemplifies a Purāṇic method of explaining cosmological and ethical concepts through paired symbols (light/dark; truth/untruth), reflecting a broader South Asian literary habit of encoding philosophical categories in vivid personifications.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the content is symbolic and conceptual rather than topographical.
By pairing satya (truth) and asatya (untruth) with contrasting colors and associating them with ‘Night,’ the verse foregrounds ethical dualities and their coexistence within lived experience, presented as a descriptive philosophical framing rather than a prescriptive command.
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