Shloka 33

Vamana's Three Steps — Binding of Bali

Devanagari script

विश्वाङ्घ्रिणा प्रसरता कटाहो भेदितो बलान् कुटिला विष्णुपादे तु समेत्य कुटिला ततः

Transliteration

viśvāṅghriṇā prasaratā kaṭāho bhedito balān kuṭilā viṣṇupāde tu sametya kuṭilā tataḥ

Translation

As the all-pervading foot spread forth, the ‘Kaṭāha’ was split open by force; and the river Kuṭilā, having met at Vishnu’s foot, thereafter became (known as) Kuṭilā.

Speakers

• Narrator continuing the description of Trivikrama’s cosmic act within the Vāmana–Bali episode.

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Trivikrama)

Key Themes

• Origin/authorization of sacred rivers via divine contact
• Viṣṇupāda / Viṣṇupadī motif
• Cosmic boundary being pierced
• Mythic etiology of a river name

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is the ‘Kaṭāha’ that gets split—why use a ‘cauldron’ metaphor?

‘Kaṭāha’ (cauldron/bowl) is a Purāṇic metaphor for a containing cover or bowl-like enclosure of the cosmos. Saying it is ‘split’ by the expanding foot intensifies the image of the universe as a bounded vessel that Trivikrama breaches.

Who/what is ‘Kuṭilā’ here—an epithet or a river?

In this verse it functions as a proper name of a river (or sacred stream). The repetition suggests an etiological explanation: after contact/meeting at Viṣṇupāda, it is (re)affirmed or becomes renowned as ‘Kuṭilā’—the meandering one—linking hydrology (a winding course) with sacral origin.

Is ‘Viṣṇupāda’ a specific earthly pilgrimage site or a mythic locus?

Here it is primarily mythic—the divine foot as a cosmological source-point. In broader Hindu sacred geography, ‘Viṣṇupāda’ can also denote terrestrial shrines (notably in Gayā traditions), but this verse itself does not specify an earthly location; it sacralizes the ‘foot-contact’ as the river’s legitimizing origin.