Varaha Purana 21.29: Adhyaya 21, Shloka 29
The Disruption of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice, the Hari-Hara Conflict, and the Establishment of Rudra’s Sacrificial Share
Pūrva Bhāga · Narrative of martial/cosmic conflict (protective cosmology)
कूष्माण्डा यातुधानाश्च सर्वे प्रज्वलिताननाः । उत्तस्थुः कोटिशस्तत्र नानाप्रहरणावृताः ॥ २१.३० ॥
kūṣmāṇḍā yātudhānāś ca sarve prajvalitānanāḥ | uttasthuḥ koṭiśas tatra nānā-praharaṇāvṛtāḥ || 21.30 ||
kUShmANDA yAtudhAnAshcha sarve prajvalitAnanAH | uttasthuH koTishastatra nAnApraharaNAvRRitAH || 21.30 ||
Di sana para kūṣmāṇḍa dan yātudhāna—semuanya berwajah menyala—bangkit dalam jumlah puluhan juta, berselubung aneka senjata.
Sandhi Notes
- यातुधानाश्च = यातुधानाः + च
- प्रज्वलिताननाः = प्रज्वलित + आननाः
- नानाप्रहरणावृताः = नाना + प्रहरण + आवृताः
Varāha
When destructive forces proliferate, legitimate protection (dharma-rakṣaṇa) becomes necessary; power must be yoked to order.
Support protective dharma in society (lawful defense, safeguarding the vulnerable); personally restrain anger so it does not become ‘weaponized’ chaos.
The multiplication of weapon-bearing, blazing-faced beings dramatizes the cosmic necessity of kṣātra energy (protective force) within creation; disorder proliferates, requiring the Lord’s dharmic containment.
As in a rite where obstacles (vighna) arise in multitudes, the sacrificial field must be guarded; the ‘blazing faces’ echo the fire-element unleashed by mantra, now taking martial, obstructive forms.
Shows the play of guṇas: tamas/rajas can surge massively; liberation/order requires the presiding sattvic intelligence (īśvara) to re-establish harmony.
Leads into the Lord’s creation of a Veda-formed chariot (21.21.31)
FAQs
It reflects a common Purāṇic narrative technique: enumerating classes of hostile beings and amplifying scale (e.g., “koṭiśaḥ”) to convey the intensity of cosmic or martial conflict within the epic-Purāṇic storytelling tradition.
No specific toponym is named in this verse; “tatra” (“there”) refers back to a location established in the surrounding passage.
The verse is primarily descriptive rather than prescriptive; its philosophical function is to portray the emergence of destructive forces, setting narrative conditions for the restoration of order (dharma) in the broader episode.
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