Varaha Purana 41.32: Adhyaya 41, Shloka 32
Rite of the Varāha Dvādaśī Vow and an Exemplary Narrative on Expiation for Brahmin-Slaying
Pūrva Bhāga · Pṛthivī-uddhāra (Varāha–Pṛthivī Dialogue)
पाताले सुतलाख्ये च यथा धात्री निमज्जती । उद्धृता देवदेवेन विष्णुना क्रोडमूर्त्तिना ॥ ४१.३२ ॥
pātāle sutalākhye ca yathā dhātrī nimajjati | uddhṛtā devadevena viṣṇunā kroḍamūrttinā || 41.32 ||
pAtAle sutalAkhye cha yathA dhAtrI nimajjatI | uddhRRitA devadevena viShNunA kroDamUrttinA || 41.32 ||
大地（ダー トリー）がスータラと呼ばれる領域のパーターラへ沈みゆくとき、神々の神ヴィシュヌは猪の姿（ヴァラーハ）をとり、彼女を引き上げた。
Sandhi Notes
- सुतल-आख्ये (समास)
- देव-देवेन (समास)
- क्रोड-मूर्त्तिना (समास)
Varāha
Overwhelmed and sinking (nimajjati) into the netherworld; in need of rescue
When the foundation of life (Earth/dharma) is threatened, the Supreme acts directly as protector and restorer.
Cultivate śaraṇāgati (refuge) in Viṣṇu during collective or personal ‘sinking’—crisis is met by divine support, not despair.
क्रोडमूर्त्ति (boar-bodied Viṣṇu)
Uplifts Dhātrī (Earth) from sinking into Pātāla/Sutala—an explicit उद्धार (raising up) act
Varāha as the cosmic stabilizer: when the world-support (Dhātrī) sinks into the abyss, the Supreme assumes a tangible form to re-ground dharma and the cosmos; the avatāra bridges transcendence and immanence.
Implicit yajña-Varāha motif (Viṣṇu as देवदेव, world-sustainer) without explicit limb-to-ritual mappings in this verse.
Īśvara’s līlā as जगत्कारण (cosmic cause) and dharma-saṃsthāpana: the Absolute freely manifests to uphold the order of the worlds.
Varāha Purāṇa: recurring Bhū-uddhāra narrative frames and cosmography passages
FAQs
It preserves a core Purāṇic motif—Earth’s submergence and restoration—used across early Sanskrit literature to express cosmic renewal and the stabilization of the world-order (dharma) through mythic narration.
Sutala is named as a realm within Pātāla (the netherworld). In scholarship it is treated as a mythic-cosmographic location rather than a directly mappable terrestrial site.
The verse frames Earth as a valued, protectable entity and presents restoration (uddhāra) as an ideal response to ecological or cosmic disruption—an ethic of safeguarding and re-stabilizing the world.
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