Varaha Purana 32.7: Adhyaya 32, Shloka 7
Dharma as the Bull-Form: Soma’s Transgression and the Institution of the Thirteenth Lunar Day Observance
Pūrva Bhāga · Pr̥thivī-uddhāra and Iconographic-Cosmological Descriptions
तथा आद्यन्त ओङ्कार द्विशिराः सप्तहस्तवान् । त्रिबद्धबद्धो विप्राणां मुख्यः पालयते जगत् ॥ ३२.८ ॥
tathā ādyanta oṅkāra dviśirāḥ saptahastavān | tribaddhabaddho viprāṇāṁ mukhyaḥ pālayate jagat || 32.8 ||
tathA Adyanta o~NkAra dvishirAH saptahastavAn | tribaddhabaddho viprANAM mukhyaH pAlayate jagat || 32.8 ||
Demikian pula, prinsip awal-dan-akhir, yakni Oṁkāra: berkepala dua dan bertangan tujuh; terikat oleh ikatan tiga lapis; sebagai yang utama di antara para brāhmaṇa, ia melindungi jagat raya.
Sandhi Notes
- आद्यन्त ओङ्कार = आद्यन्तः + ओङ्कारः (visarga sandhi)
- त्रिबद्धबद्धो = त्रिबद्धबद्धः (visarga sandhi)
Varāha
Praṇava (Oṁ) is the primordial-total principle that protects and orders the world when properly understood and upheld.
Daily praṇava-japa and meditation with ethical restraint; treat mantra as discipline (niyama) that stabilizes mind and conduct.
Oṁkāra is presented as a cosmic-protective principle with anthropomorphic iconography (two-headed, seven-handed, threefold bound), aligning sacred sound with the sustaining power that guards the world—an extension of Yajña-Varāha logic where mantra is the body of order.
Two-headed: duality such as ādi/anta, or waking/dream, or pravṛtti/nivṛtti; seven-handed: seven meters/notes/worlds or seven tongues of fire—suggesting manifold ritual reach; threefold binding: triad structures (guṇas, fires, Vedic divisions) that ‘bind’ and stabilize cosmos.
Praṇava as brahman-sign (tāraka): beginning and end of speech and contemplation; meditating on Oṁ integrates multiplicity into the one sustaining reality.
Varāha Purāṇa passages praising praṇava and Vedic sound as protective order (within the same discourse unit)
FAQs
The verse reflects a Purāṇic tendency to integrate mantra-theory (Oṁkāra) with anthropomorphic/iconographic description, indicating how sound-symbolism and cosmological governance were expressed in classical Sanskrit religious literature.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the focus is cosmological and conceptual (Oṁkāra as a protective principle).
The central philosophical instruction is the notion of cosmic protection and sustaining order (pālayate jagat), presenting governance/preservation as a defining function of the foremost principle associated here with Oṁkāra.
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