Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 90

Portents at Bali’s Sacrifice and the Kośakāra’s Son: The Power of Past Karma

Devanagari script

मया चाभिद्रुता तूर्णं पतिता पृथिवीतले तस्यामुपरि भो तात पतितो ऽहं भृशातुरः

Transliteration

mayā cābhidrutā tūrṇaṃ patitā pṛthivītale tasyāmupari bho tāta patito 'haṃ bhṛśāturaḥ

Translation

“And as I rushed quickly toward her, she fell upon the ground; and upon her, O dear one, I fell—greatly pained.”

Speakers

• Narrator (first-person) addressing a listener with affectionate vocative (bho tāta)
• within a sage-dialogue frame

Key Themes

• Sudden mishap in liminal tīrtha-space
• Human vulnerability within sacred narrative
• Karmic/plot transition device

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why include a seemingly mundane fall in a Purāṇic tīrtha context?

Such incidents often function as narrative hinges—leading to recognition, revelation, a curse/boon exchange, or the disclosure of a tīrtha’s power through an ensuing event.

What does ‘bho tāta’ indicate about the audience within the story?

It signals an intimate address to a junior or dear interlocutor, even if the broader frame is a sage-to-sage narration; it can mark a shift in tone or a remembered direct speech style.

Does this verse contribute to geographical metadata?

Only indirectly. It confirms the action occurs near a river (from v.89) but supplies no proper toponyms; precise sacred-geography tagging depends on adjacent verses naming the river/tīrtha.