Varaha Purana 79.18: Adhyaya 79, Shloka 18
Description of the Inner Basins (Droṇīs): Śrīsaras, Śrīvana, Bilva Forest, and Tāla Grove
Pūrva Bhāga · Sacred Geography and Mythic Ecology (Vana-varṇana)
तद्वनं दानवैर्दैत्यैर्गन्धर्वैर्यक्षराक्षसैः । किन्नरैरप्सरोभिश्च महाभोगैश्च सेवितम् ॥ ७९.१८ ॥
tad vanaṁ dānavair daityair gandharvair yakṣa-rākṣasaiḥ | kinnarair apsarobhiś ca mahābhogaiś ca sevitam || 79.18 ||
tadvanaM dAnavairdaityairgandharvairyakSharAkShasaiH | kinnarairapsarobhishcha mahAbhogaishcha sevitam || 79.18 ||
उस जंगल में दानव और दैत्य आते थे। गंधर्व, यक्ष, राक्षस भी थे। किन्नर और अप्सरा भी रहती थी। सब मज़े और शौक में लगे थे।
Sandhi Notes
- तद्वनं → तत् वनम्
- दानवैर्दैत्यैः → दानवैः दैत्यैः
- गन्धर्वैर् → गन्धर्वैः
- अप्सरोभिश्च → अप्सरोभिः च
- महाभोगैश्च → महाभोगैः च
Varāha
Tīrtha-lands are recognized by their capacity to host multiple orders of beings; sanctity is ecological and cosmological, not merely human
Approach such places with restraint and reverence (ahiṃsā, śauca), treating the landscape as a living sacred community
Foreshadows Vraja’s otherworldly population and later Kṛṣṇa-līlā settings by describing a forest frequented by semi-divine and non-human beings
Varāha Purāṇa 79.79.20-22 (Sukhā river; Tālavana dimensions; tree qualities)
FAQs
It exemplifies a common Purāṇic descriptive technique: mapping a landscape through the presence of cosmological communities (Gandharvas, Yakṣas, etc.), which helps scholars study how sacred geography and mythic ecology are layered onto real or imagined terrains in early Sanskrit literature.
The verse refers generically to “that forest” (tad vanam) without naming a specific toponym in this fragment; identification requires adjacent verses in Adhyāya 79 that may supply the forest’s proper name or associated tīrtha.
No direct prescriptive ethic is stated; indirectly, the verse frames the forest as a culturally significant habitat shared by multiple classes of beings, supporting a heritage-oriented reading in which such landscapes are treated as noteworthy and worthy of careful regard.
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