Varaha Purana 113.38: Adhyaya 113, Shloka 38
Hymn to Varāha and Pṛthivī’s Inquiry
Prelude to the Sanatkumāra Dialogue
Pūrva Bhāga · Pṛthivī-uddhāra (Earth’s appeal and recourse to Viṣṇu)
मत्स्यः कूर्म्मो वराहश्च नरसिंहोऽसि वामनः ।। रामो रामश्च कृष्णश्च बुद्धः कल्की महात्मवान्
matsyaḥ kūrmmo varāhaś ca narasiṃho 'si vāmanaḥ || rāmo rāmaś ca kṛṣṇaś ca buddhaḥ kalkī mahātmavān
matsyaH kUrmmo varAhashcha narasiMho.asi vAmanaH || rAmo rAmashcha kRRiShNashcha buddhaH kalkI mahAtmavAn
നീ മത്സ്യൻ, കൂർമ്മൻ, വരാഹൻ; നീ നരസിംഹനും വാമനനും. നീ രാമനും പരശുരാമനും കൃഷ്ണനും; നീ ബുദ്ധനും മഹാത്മാവായ കല്കിയും.
Sandhi Notes
- varāhaś ca = varāhaḥ ca
- narasiṃho 'si = narasiṃhaḥ asi
- rāmaś ca = rāmaḥ ca
- kṛṣṇaś ca = kṛṣṇaḥ ca
Dharaṇī (Pṛthivī)
Reverent and assured, enumerating the Lord’s saving manifestations across time.
Are you the single divine source behind all avatāras that restore dharma in different ages?
One Lord manifests in many forms appropriate to the needs of yugas and beings; unity behind plurality of divine interventions.
Remember the Lord’s past rescues to strengthen faith during disorder; align personal conduct with dharma as the avatāra’s purpose.
The daśāvatāra catalogue frames Varāha as one modality of the same supreme agency that cyclically intervenes to re-stabilize cosmos and dharma; avatāra becomes a metaphysics of compassionate descent.
Implicit: each avatāra restores the ‘yajña-order’ (ṛta/dharma); Varāha specifically restores the earth-platform on which yajña and social dharma can occur.
Puruṣottama as the single reality appearing through multiple upādhis for loka-saṅgraha; supports a theistic reading of Brahman with purposeful manifestation.
Direct: Kṛṣṇa is named as an avatāra, foreshadowing Mathurā/Vraja-centered sanctity in later sections.
Varāha Purāṇa’s broader Mathurā-māhātmya sections (elsewhere) that elaborate Kṛṣṇa-linked tīrthas
FAQs
Such avatāra catalogues are key witnesses for the stabilization of the Daśāvatāra sequence and for tracking how different traditions enumerate and interpret these figures across manuscripts.
No geographic site is specified; the verse is a typological list of manifestations.
The list conveys a principle of restorative intervention: order is re-established through context-appropriate forms of action when imbalance arises.
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