Vamana Purana — Harihara Revelation, Shloka 9
Harihara Revelation and the Kurukshetra Tirtha Cycle: Sthanu in Vishnu and the Sanctification of Saptasarasvata
विप्रोष्यं ब्रह्महरणं ब्राह्मणानां विनिन्दनम् विरोधं बन्धुभिश्चोक्तं नवमं नरपाचनम्
viproṣyaṃ brahmaharaṇaṃ brāhmaṇānāṃ vinindanam virodhaṃ bandhubhiścoktaṃ navamaṃ narapācanam
ബ്രാഹ്മണനെ പീഡിപ്പിക്കൽ, ‘ബ്രഹ്മ’ ഹരണം (പവിത്രജ്ഞാനം/വേദസമ്പത്ത് കവർന്നെടുക്കൽ), ബ്രാഹ്മണന്മാരെ നിന്ദിക്കൽ, കൂടാതെ ബന്ധുക്കളോടു വൈരം വളർത്തൽ—ഇവയ്ക്കായി ഒൻപതാം നരകം ‘നരപാചനം’ എന്നു പ്രഖ്യാപിക്കുന്നു.
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FAQs
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.
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.
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.