Varaha Purana 69.8: Adhyaya 69, Shloka 8
Agastya’s Vision of Varuṇa as Nārāyaṇa in Ilāvṛta
Pūrva Bhāga · Pṛthivī-uddhāra / Pātāla and subterranean motifs (cosmographic narrative)
भूमौ स्थितं तु मां दृष्ट्वा हुंकारमकरोद् द्विजः । तद्धुंकारात् तु पातालं भित्त्वा पञ्च हि कन्यकाः ॥ ६९.८ ॥
bhūmau sthitaṃ tu māṃ dṛṣṭvā huṃkāram akarod dvijaḥ | tad-dhuṃkārāt tu pātālaṃ bhittvā pañca hi kanyakāḥ || 69.8 ||
bhUmau sthitaM tu mAM dRRiShTvA hu~NkAramakarod dvijaH | taddhu~NkArAt tu pAtAlaM bhittvA pa~ncha hi kanyakAH || 69.8 ||
मुझे ज़मीन पर खड़ा देख के उस ब्राह्मण ने एक ज़ोर की आवाज़ निकाली। उस आवाज़ से पाताल की ज़मीन फट गई और वहाँ से पाँच लड़कियाँ निकली आई।
Sandhi Notes
- तद्धुंकारात् = तत् + हुंकारात्
- अकरोद् द्विजः = अकरोत् + द्विजः
Varāha
Concentrated spiritual power expressed as sound can effect real transformation across realms.
Guard speech; cultivate tapas and purity so that words become truthful and potent rather than harmful noise.
The huṃkāra functions as a seed-sound (bīja) of transformative power: vibration (śabda) pierces cosmic layers, implying that sound/word (vāk) can open hidden realms and manifest śakti.
Rather a śabda-motif: huṃkāra as a force that ‘bhittvā pātālam’ (pierces the netherworld), like mantra breaking through coverings (āvaraṇa).
Śabda as pramāṇa and as creative potency: the cosmos is structured by nāda/vāk; inner realization can ‘pierce’ lower tendencies (pātāla as symbolic depth) and bring forth latent powers (kanyāḥ as śaktis).
Varāha Purāṇa 69.69.7 (tejas of the brāhmaṇa); Varāha Purāṇa 69.69.9 (maidens emerge and perform hospitality)
FAQs
It illustrates a typical Purāṇic narrative technique in which a spoken utterance (huṃkāra) functions as a causal trigger for cosmographic events, reflecting the genre’s interest in linking speech, ritual authority (dvija), and the layered structure of the cosmos (e.g., Pātāla).
Pātāla is identified as a netherworld region within classical Indic cosmography; it is not a terrestrial site with a single agreed modern geographic identification, but a mythic-subterranean locus used across Purāṇic and epic literature.
The verse primarily serves a narrative-cosmological function rather than issuing an explicit ethical injunction; indirectly, it foregrounds the perceived potency of disciplined speech associated with a dvija within Purāṇic cultural frameworks.
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