Varaha Purana 96.45: Adhyaya 96, Shloka 45
The Threefold Power: The Raudrī Observance and the Manifestation of Chāmuṇḍā
Uttara Bhāga · Devī–Rudra Saṃvāda (Protective rites and spirit-categories)
याचयामासुरव्यग्रास्तास्तां देवीं बुभुक्षिताः ॥ वयं देवि सुधार्ताः स्मो देहि नो भोजनं शुभे ॥
yācayāmāsur avyagrās tāstāṃ devīṃ bubhukṣitāḥ || vayaṃ devi sudhārtāḥ smo dehi no bhojanaṃ śubhe ||
yAchayAmAsuravyagrAstAstAM devIM bubhukShitAH || vayaM devi sudhArtAH smo dehi no bhojanaM shubhe
വിശപ്പോടെ വ്യഗ്രരായി അവർ ആ ദേവിയെ അപേക്ഷിച്ചു—“ഹേ ദേവി, ഞങ്ങൾ വിശപ്പാൽ പീഡിതരാണ്; ഹേ ശുഭേ, ഞങ്ങൾക്ക് ആഹാരം തരണമേ।”
Sandhi Notes
- yācayāmāsuḥ = yācayā + māsuḥ (लिट्-बहुवचन)
- sudhārtāḥ treated as sudhā-ārtāḥ (तत्पुरुष)
- smo → smaḥ (अस्मः) in sandhi
What is the righteous means of relieving urgent hunger—who will grant us food, and how should need be addressed within dharmic order?
Need (kṣudh) levels all beings; compassionate response to hunger is a direct expression of dharma and auspiciousness (śubhatā).
Prioritize feeding the hungry (anna-sevā/anna-dāna) as immediate dharma; when in need, ask without violence or deceit—through respectful petition.
The hunger-plea frames ‘anna’ as life-supporting śakti; while not Varāha-symbolic, it aligns with Purāṇic valuation of anna-dāna as sustaining the world-order.
Dependence of embodied beings on anna underscores the embodied condition (deha-dharma) and the ethical imperative of compassion.
Those in need may petition respectfully for anna (food); the addressed authority (here Devī) is implicitly bound by auspicious generosity toward the hungry.
Granting food supports puṇya and social-cosmic harmony; refusing/neglecting the hungry (especially petitioners under one’s protection) accrues demerit and disorder (implied by Purāṇic ethics, though not explicitly stated here).
Varāha Purāṇa 96 (petitioners’ plea to Devī; sets up subsequent resolution)
FAQs
It preserves a common Purāṇic narrative motif: beings approach a divine figure with a practical need (here, hunger), reflecting how Purāṇas encode social anxieties into mythic dialogue.
No explicit geographic location is named in this verse fragment.
The verse foregrounds the ethics of appeal and response—need is articulated through supplication, preparing the ground for a negotiated resolution rather than immediate violence.
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