Shloka 42

Gift of Sudarshana — The Gift of Sudarshana: Shiva’s Boon to Vishnu and the Sanctification of Virupaksha

Devanagari script

ततस्तु तेनाप्रतिपौरुषेण चक्रेण दैत्यस्य शिरो निकृत्तम् संछिन्नसीर्षो निपपात शैलाद् वज्राहतं शैलशिरो यथैव

Transliteration

tatastu tenāpratipauruṣeṇa cakreṇa daityasya śiro nikṛttam saṃchinnasīrṣo nipapāta śailād vajrāhataṃ śailaśiro yathaiva

Translation

Then, by that discus of unmatched might, the Daitya’s head was cut off. With his head severed, he fell from the mountain, just like a mountain-peak struck by the thunderbolt.

Speakers

• Narrator; the verse concludes the immediate combat outcome.

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Hari)
• Indra (implied via vajra simile)

Key Themes

• Inevitability of divine retribution
• Sudarśana as dharmic instrument
• Mythic simile linking Viṣṇu’s power to Indra’s vajra
• Sacralization of landscape through divine combat

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What does ‘apratipauruṣa’ convey about the cakra?

It frames the discus as ‘without equal in heroic force’—not merely a weapon but an extension of Viṣṇu’s sovereign power, against which ordinary valor (pauruṣa) cannot contend.

Why compare the Daitya’s fall to a peak struck by Indra’s vajra?

The simile equates Viṣṇu’s decisive act with the archetypal divine strike of the Vedic-Purāṇic imagination (Indra’s vajra). It intensifies the image of sudden, catastrophic, and irreversible downfall.

Does the mountain setting add geographical meaning beyond scenery?

Yes. Even when not naming a famous tīrtha, Purāṇas often anchor myth in terrain (prastha/śaila) to sacralize space: the battlefield becomes a remembered sacred locale, and the named mountain (Suragiri) functions as a geographic mnemonic within the text’s broader sacred mapping.