Shloka 43

Vamana's Three Steps — Vamana’s Three Steps and the Binding of Bali

Devanagari script

कृत्वा प्रमाणं स्वयसेव हीनं पदत्रयं याचितवान् भुवश्च किं त्वं न गृह्णासि जगत्त्रयं भो रूपेण लोकत्रयवन्दितेन

Transliteration

kṛtvā pramāṇaṃ svayaseva hīnaṃ padatrayaṃ yācitavān bhuvaśca kiṃ tvaṃ na gṛhṇāsi jagattrayaṃ bho rūpeṇa lokatrayavanditena

Translation

നീ സ്വശക്തി കുറച്ചതുപോലെ ചെറു അളവുരൂപം ധരിച്ചു ഭൂമിയുടെ മൂന്ന് പാദങ്ങൾ യാചിച്ചു. എന്നാൽ, ഹേ പ്രഭോ, ത്രിലോകവും വന്ദിക്കുന്ന ആ രൂപത്തിൽ നീ ജഗത്ത്രയം എന്തുകൊണ്ട് സ്വീകരിക്കുന്നില്ല?

Speakers

• Unspecified in the provided excerpt (speaker addressing the Lord
• invoking the Vāmana episode).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Vāmana/Trivikrama)
• Bali (implied by the ‘three steps’ request)

Key Themes

• Vāmana’s humility and cosmic sovereignty
• Divine līlā (self-limitation ‘as if’ diminished)
• Trivikrama and the measurement of the worlds
• Devotion through mythic recollection

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why does the verse say the Lord became ‘hīna’ (diminished) ‘as if’ by his own power?

It signals līlā: the deity’s voluntary self-concealment. The small Vāmana form is not a real limitation but a chosen appearance that sets up the revelation of cosmic magnitude (Trivikrama).

Is ‘three steps of land’ literal or symbolic?

In the Bali narrative it is both: literally requested as a small grant, but symbolically it becomes the totality of space—earth, atmosphere, and heaven—measured by the Lord’s strides, expressing universal sovereignty.

How does this allusion function within a chapter focused on Kurukṣetra?

Purāṇic geography is often framed by theology: the sanctity of a place is reinforced by recalling the Lord’s cosmic acts. By invoking Vāmana/Trivikrama, the text links local holiness (a famed region like Kurukṣetra) to the universal Lord who pervades all realms.