Shloka 11
अध्याय १९० — वामदेव-वाम्य-वृत्तान्तः
The Vāmadeva Horses Episode and the Ethics of Promise
वाराहं रूपमास्थाय मयेयं जगती पुरा,विप्रवर! पूर्वकालमें जब यह पृथ्वी जलमें डूब गयी थी, उस समय मैंने ही वाराहरूप धारण करके इसे बलपूर्वक जलसे बाहर निकाला था। विद्वन! मैं ही बडवामुख अग्नि होकर सदा समुद्रके जलको पीता हूँ और फिर उस जलको बरसा देता हूँ। ब्राह्मण मेरा मुख है, क्षत्रिय दोनों भुजाएँ हैं और वैश्य मेरी दोनों जाँघोंके रूपमें स्थित हैं
deva uvāca | varāhaṃ rūpam āsthāya mayeyaṃ jagatī purā, vipravara! pūrvakāle yadā iyaṃ pṛthivī jalena nimagnābhavat tadā mayā eva varāharūpaṃ dhṛtvā balāt jalād uddhṛtā | vidvan! aham eva baḍavāmukha-agniḥ san sadā samudrajalaṃ pibāmi, punaś ca tad eva jalaṃ varṣayāmi | brāhmaṇo mama mukhaṃ, kṣatriyau bāhū, vaiśyau ca mama ūrūrūpeṇa sthitau |
The Deity said: “O foremost of Brahmins! In ancient times, when this earth had sunk beneath the waters, it was I who assumed the form of the Boar and, by sheer force, lifted her up from the flood. O wise one! I am also the Mare’s-mouth fire that continually drinks the ocean’s waters and then releases that same water again as rain. The Brahmin is my mouth, the Kshatriya my two arms, and the Vaishya abides as my two thighs.”
देव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage asserts divine immanence and governance: the deity preserves the world (raising the earth from the waters), regulates natural cycles (ocean water and rain), and grounds social functions in a sacred cosmic body, implying that dharma is sustained when each role serves the whole.
A deity addresses a learned Brahmin, recounting primordial acts—assuming the Varāha form to rescue the submerged earth, functioning as the baḍavāmukha fire that consumes and returns ocean water as rain—and then identifies major social orders as parts of the deity’s own body.