Shloka 23
Naimittika-pralaya and the Theology of Kāla: Seven Suns, Saṃvartaka Fire, Flood, and Varāha Kalpa
ततः प्रलीने सर्वस्मिञ् जङ्गमे स्थावरे तथा / निर्वृक्षा निस्तृणा भूमिः कूर्मपृष्ठा प्रकाशते
tataḥ pralīne sarvasmiñ jaṅgame sthāvare tathā / nirvṛkṣā nistṛṇā bhūmiḥ kūrmapṛṣṭhā prakāśate
അപ്പോൾ ചരവും അചരവും എല്ലാം പ്രളയത്തിൽ ലയിച്ച ശേഷം, വൃക്ഷവും പുല്ലും ഇല്ലാത്ത ഭൂമി കൂർമന്റെ പൃഷ്ഠത്തിൽ ആശ്രയിച്ച് പ്രത്യക്ഷമാകുന്നു.
Sūta (narrator) describing the pralaya cosmology in the Kurma Purana’s Purva-bhaga
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
FAQs
By portraying total pralaya—where both the moving and unmoving dissolve—it implies that all manifest forms are contingent, while the sustaining principle (the divine support symbolized by Kūrma) remains as the stable ground beyond change.
The verse itself is cosmological, but it supports a yogic contemplation used in Purāṇic and Pāśupata-oriented teaching: meditate on impermanence (kṣaya) of all names-and-forms and on the unwavering support of Īśvara as the inner foundation during dissolution and re-creation.
Though Kūrma (a Viṣṇu-form) is named, the theological thrust aligns with the Kurma Purana’s synthesis: the sustaining divine support is one Īśvara, spoken of through different names and forms across Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava idioms.