Vamana Purana — Nakshatra-Purusha Vrata, Shloka 48

The Nakshatra-Purusha Vrata: Worship of Vishnu’s Body as the Constellations

Devanagari script

कथं कथमपि प्राणा मया संप्रतिधारिताः एवमेतादृशः पापी निवसाम्यतिनिर्घृणः

Transliteration

kathaṃ kathamapi prāṇā mayā saṃpratidhāritāḥ evametādṛśaḥ pāpī nivasāmyatinirghṛṇaḥ

Translation

“Somehow—only somehow—have I kept my life-breaths going; and thus, being such a sinner, I live on, utterly without compassion.”

Speakers

• Unspecified in prompt; first-person confession likely addressed to a sage/interlocutor in Adhyaya 53.

Key Themes

• Confession and self-reproach
• Endurance of life amid suffering
• Ethics of compassion (dayā) vs. cruelty (nirghṛṇatā)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "bibhatsa", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

Is ‘ati-nirghṛṇaḥ’ describing the speaker’s character or their condition?

Grammatically it qualifies the speaker (‘I live on… exceedingly without compassion’). In Purāṇic confession passages, such self-labeling often signals remorse and recognition of prior cruelty or neglect of dharma.

What does ‘prāṇā … dhāritāḥ’ imply here?

It conveys precarious survival—life being ‘propped up’ with difficulty—heightening the sense that the speaker is undergoing the consequences of past actions.

How does this fit a tīrtha-mahātmya framework?

Tīrtha sections frequently introduce a sufferer’s misery/confession to motivate pilgrimage, charity, vows, or worship that leads to purification; the verse supplies the moral pressure that precedes redemptive instruction.