Varaha Purana 93.2: Adhyaya 93, Shloka 2
The Battle of Mahiṣa Daitya and the Gods
Pūrva Bhāga · Daitya–Deva Saṅgrāma (Daitya Catalog / Onomastics)
कालः कृतान्तो रक्ताक्षो हरणो मित्रहाऽनिलः । यज्ञहा ब्रह्महा गोग्घ्नः स्त्रीघ्नः संवर्त्तकस्तथा ॥
kālaḥ kṛtānto raktākṣo haraṇo mitrahā'nilaḥ | yajñahā brahmahā goghnaḥ strīghnaḥ saṃvarttakas tathā ||
kAlaH kRRitAnto raktAkSho haraNo mitrahA.anilaH | yaj~nahA brahmahA goghnaH strIghnaH saMvarttakastathA
यह सब दैत्य सरदार थे। काल, कृतांत, रक्ताक्ष, हरण, मित्रहा, अनिल। फिर यज्ञहा, ब्रह्महा, गोघ्न, स्त्रीघ्न और संवर्त्तक। यह सब दैत्यों के बड़े लोग थे।
Sandhi Notes
- mitrahā'nilaḥ = mitrahā + anilaḥ (a + a → 'ā' with avagraha in Devanagari)
Varāha
Observer; attentive to the moral weight of the names/epithets
Nāma as dharma-indicator: epithets reveal inner disposition (svabhāva) and karmic orientation; violence against yajña, brahma, cows, women, and friendship is presented as civilizational collapse.
Use ‘name-and-act’ reflection: avoid actions that would make one ‘yajñahā’ etc.; protect yajña (sacred duty), learning, non-violence, and social trust.
The onomastic list frames adharma as ‘named forces’ (kāla/kṛtānta/saṃvartaka) that assault yajña and social order; Varāha’s cosmic role implicitly stands as the counter-principle that re-stabilizes ṛta/dharma.
Implicit contrast: ‘Yajñahā’ (destroyer of sacrifice) versus Yajña-Varāha (sacrifice embodied) who restores sacrificial order.
Adharma appears as tamasic distortion of cosmic functions (time/death/destruction); the avatāra principle reorients these toward dharma, reflecting īśvara’s governance over kāla.
The verse functions as a negative-ethics catalogue: yajña-hā/brahma-hā/go-ghna/strī-ghna are paradigmatic mahāpātaka-like sins, marking the daityas as embodiments of adharma.
Such acts lead to severe demerit and ‘naraka’-tending trajectories in Dharma discourse; here, they also justify divine opposition and downfall in the narrative.
Varaha Purana 93.93.11-13 (these leaders participate in the assault on Rudras/Indra; boon-based invulnerability theme)
FAQs
Name-catalogs like this are valuable for manuscript indexing and for tracing how Purāṇic texts encode moral judgments through epithet-based naming.
No geographic location is specified in this catalog verse.
The names function as ethical negatives (e.g., ‘sacrifice-slayer’), implicitly marking actions viewed as socially destructive within the text’s cultural framework.
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