Vamana Purana — Harihara Revelation, Shloka 9

Harihara Revelation and the Kurukshetra Tirtha Cycle: Sthanu in Vishnu and the Sanctification of Saptasarasvata

Devanagari script

विप्रोष्यं ब्रह्महरणं ब्राह्मणानां विनिन्दनम् विरोधं बन्धुभिश्चोक्तं नवमं नरपाचनम्

Transliteration

viproṣyaṃ brahmaharaṇaṃ brāhmaṇānāṃ vinindanam virodhaṃ bandhubhiścoktaṃ navamaṃ narapācanam

Translation

ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣನಿಗೆ ಹಾನಿ ಮಾಡುವುದು, ‘ಬ್ರಹ್ಮ’ವನ್ನು ಹರಣ ಮಾಡುವುದು (ಪವಿತ್ರ ಜ್ಞಾನ/ವೇದಸಂಪತ್ತನ್ನು ಕಸಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು), ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣರನ್ನು ನಿಂದಿಸುವುದು, ಹಾಗೂ ಬಂಧುಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ವೈರ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸುವುದು—ಇವುಗಳಿಗೆ ಒಂಬತ್ತನೆಯ ನರಕ ‘ನರಪಾಚನ’ ಎಂದು ಘೋಷಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ.

Word by Word

• viproṣyam: desertion/going away (abandoning)
• viproṣyam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: viproṣya (कृदन्त; √vas/√uṣ with vi+pra? ‘to go abroad’; here adjectival/nominal)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; भाववाचक/कर्मवाचक-संज्ञा (act/state of going away/abandonment)

• brahma-haraṇam: stealing brahmin property / brahma-theft
• brahma-haraṇam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: brahman (प्रातिपदिक) + haraṇa (प्रातिपदिक; √hṛ हरति)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (ब्रह्मणः हरणम्)

• brāhmaṇānām: of brahmins
• brāhmaṇānām: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: brāhmaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/षष्ठी), बहुवचन; सम्बन्ध (genitive)

• vinindanām: reviling, slandering
• vinindanām: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vinindana (प्रातिपदिक; vi+√nind निन्दति)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• virodham: hostility, opposition
• virodham: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: virodha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• bandhubhiḥ: with/by kinsmen
• bandhubhiḥ: Karaṇa (करण) / Sahakāraka (सह)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bandhu (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/तृतीया), बहुवचन; करण/सहकारक (instrumental/associative)

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक-निपातः

• uktam: is said
• uktam: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ukta (कृदन्त; √vac वदति), कर्मणि भूतकृदन्त
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (क्त), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; कर्मणि—‘is said’

• navamam: ninth
• navamam: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: navama (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; क्रमवाचक-विशेषणम्

• nara-pācanam: ‘Narapācana’ (hell of cooking/tormenting men)
• nara-pācanam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: nara (प्रातिपदिक) + pācana (प्रातिपदिक; √pac पचति)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (नराणां पाचनम् = cooking/tormenting of men)

Speakers

• Unspecified in the provided excerpt (within a didactic narration enumerating pāpas and corresponding narakas)

Primary Deities

• Yama (implied as lord of naraka)

Key Themes

• Dharma (ethical restraint)
• Protection of brāhmaṇas and sacred learning
• Social harmony and kinship duties
• Karmic retribution (naraka)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What does ‘brahma-haraṇa’ mean here—stealing the Veda or stealing from brāhmaṇas?

In Purāṇic dharma lists, brahma-haraṇa commonly functions as a grave transgression involving ‘brahman’ as sacred capital: (a) theft of Vedic learning/appropriation of sacred knowledge without right, and/or (b) theft of property dedicated to Vedic rites or belonging to brāhmaṇas. The surrounding items (brāhmaṇa-harm and brāhmaṇa-slander) support the broader sense: violating the sanctity and support-system of Vedic culture.

Why is ‘hostility with kinsmen’ grouped with offenses against brāhmaṇas?

The verse clusters acts that rupture foundational supports of dharma: the ritual-intellectual pillar (brāhmaṇas and brahman) and the social pillar (bandhu-saṅgha, the kin network). Purāṇic ethics treats deliberate family enmity as a destabilizing sin that spreads violence, litigation, and neglect of ancestral duties.

Is Narapācana a literal place or a moral image?

Purāṇas present narakas as real post-mortem realms administered under Yama, while also using vivid imagery (‘cooking/roasting’) to communicate the experiential consequence of cruelty, theft, and social-religious sabotage. The name itself is a pedagogical metaphor anchored to a cosmological geography of the afterlife.