Vamana Purana — Battle at Mandara, Shloka 23

The Battle at Mandara: Vinayaka, Nandin, and Skanda Rout the Daitya Hosts

Devanagari script

ततो ऽम्बरतले घोषः सस्वनः समजायत गीतवाद्यादिसंमिश्रो दुन्दुभीनां कलिप्रिय

Transliteration

tato 'mbaratale ghoṣaḥ sasvanaḥ samajāyata gītavādyādisaṃmiśro dundubhīnāṃ kalipriya

Translation

അപ്പോൾ ആകാശത്തിൽ ഘോഷം നിറഞ്ഞ ഒരു നാദം ഉയർന്നു—ഗീതങ്ങളും വാദ്യങ്ങളും മുതലായവയുമായി കലർന്ന—ദുന്ദുഭികളുടെ മിടിപ്പിന് പ്രിയമായ കലഹധ്വനി।

Speakers

• Narrator (Purāṇic voice) continuing the description of the scene.

Key Themes

• War-omen and martial pageantry
• Cosmic soundscape (gīta-vādya-dundubhi)
• Escalation toward battle

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Is the sound described as auspicious celebration or ominous battle-noise?

The mixture of gīta (song) and vādya (instruments) can suggest ceremonial grandeur, but the prominence of dundubhī (war-drums) and the qualifier kali-priya (fond of strife/din) tilts the sense toward martial tumult—an auditory marker of impending conflict.

How should ‘kali-priya’ be understood here?

In this context it functions idiomatically: ‘delighting in din/strife,’ i.e., a sound congenial to battle. It need not invoke the later-yuga concept of Kali as an era; rather it characterizes the uproar as quarrel-loving or conflict-suited.

Why does the narrative emphasize the sky (ambaratala) for sound?

Purāṇic battles are cosmic in scale; locating the uproar in the sky universalizes the event, implying that the confrontation reverberates through the worlds and is not merely local or terrestrial.