Vamana Purana — Merit of the Vamana Purana, Shloka 6

The Merit of Hearing and Reciting the Vamana Purana (Phalaśruti)

Devanagari script

प्राप्नोति दत्तस्य सुवर्णभूमेरश्वस्य गोनागरथस्य चैव नारी नरश्चापि च पादमेकं शृण्वन् शुचिः पुण्यतमः पृथिव्याम् 69.5 स्नाने कृते तीर्थवरे सुपुण्ये गङ्गाजले नैमिषपुष्करे वा कोकामुखे यत् प्रवदन्ति विप्राः प्रयागमासाद्य च माघमासे

Transliteration

prāpnoti dattasya suvarṇabhūmeraśvasya gonāgarathasya caiva nārī naraścāpi ca pādamekaṃ śṛṇvan śuciḥ puṇyatamaḥ pṛthivyām 69.5 snāne kṛte tīrthavare supuṇye gaṅgājale naimiṣapuṣkare vā kokāmukhe yat pravadanti viprāḥ prayāgamāsādya ca māghamāse

Translation

Seorang perempuan atau laki-laki yang suci dan penuh perhatian ketika mendengarkan kisah ini memperoleh satu ‘pāda’ (seperempat bagian) dari pahala yang timbul dari sedekah emas, tanah, kuda, sapi, gajah, dan kereta. Juga, mandi suci di tīrtha-tīrtha utama yang amat berpahala—di air Gaṅgā, di Naimiṣa, di Puṣkara, di Kokāmukha sebagaimana dipuji para brāhmaṇa, serta di Prayāga pada bulan Māgha—terkenal menghasilkan kebajikan besar.

Speakers

• Same chapter frame; the teaching is directed to Nārada (explicit in 69.7)
• likely by a senior sage narrator.

Primary Deities

• Vishnu

Key Themes

• Tīrtha-snāna (holy bathing)
• Māgha-snāna at Prayāga
• Dāna (charitable gifting) as a merit benchmark
• Accessibility of merit through listening
• Purity (śauca) and attentive hearing

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

What does ‘ekaṃ pādam’ (one quarter) indicate here?

It is a conventional Purāṇic way to quantify comparative merit: attentive listening yields a defined portion of the merit of major gifts (gold, land, etc.). The text then continues to praise tīrtha-bathing as another renowned source of great puṇya, placing śravaṇa within a broader economy of dharma (dāna–snāna–pūjā).

Why are Gaṅgā, Naimiṣa, Puṣkara, Kokāmukha, and Prayāga singled out?

They function as pan-Indic ‘benchmark tīrthas’—widely recognized pilgrimage nodes. Prayāga-in-Māgha is especially famous for mass bathing vows; Naimiṣa is a paradigmatic forest of sacrifice and recitation; Puṣkara is a major lake-tīrtha; Gaṅgā is the archetypal purifier; Kokāmukha is cited as a named local/regionally authoritative tīrtha validated by brāhmaṇa tradition.

Is Kokāmukha identifiable geographically?

The name suggests a ‘mukha’ (mouth/confluence/river-outlet) associated with a river or locality called Kokā. Different Purāṇic and regional traditions sometimes preserve such tīrtha-names with varying modern identifications; the verse’s key point is its recognition as an established brāhmaṇa-endorsed bathing site.