Vamana Purana — Shiva's Wedding Procession (Part 2), Shloka 53
Shiva’s Wedding Procession to Kailasa and the Marriage of Girija (Kali)
अथोवाच महादेवो दत्तं मालिनि मुञ्च माम् सौभाग्यं निजगोत्रीयं यो ऽस्यास्तं शृणु वच्मि ते
athovāca mahādevo dattaṃ mālini muñca mām saubhāgyaṃ nijagotrīyaṃ yo 'syāstaṃ śṛṇu vacmi te
[{"question": "Is ‘śivam’ here an adjective (‘auspicious’) or a marker of Śiva’s presence?", "answer": "Both readings are viable in Purāṇic Sanskrit. Given the collocation with Himādri-śikhara and the surrounding Śaiva narrative, it most naturally denotes a Śiva-associated peak that is also ‘auspicious’ by nature."}, {"question": "What does ‘ṭaṅkacchinna’ imply about the mountain?", "answer": "It mythologizes the landscape as deliberately shaped—‘hewn by a chisel’—suggesting a sanctified, architected sacred site rather than an ordinary natural formation."}, {"question": "Why is Brahmā (Vidhātṛ) mentioned as the maker of the peak?", "answer": "Invoking Vidhātṛ frames the geography as cosmically ordained. It also integrates Śaiva sacred space into a broader Purāṇic cosmology where Brahmā’s creative agency establishes the physical settings for divine līlā."}]
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
In Purāṇic idiom, gotra-language can function beyond strict human genealogy: it can signal belonging, affinity, or ‘of one’s own side.’ Here Śiva frames the ‘saubhāgya’ as ‘of your own gotra,’ preparing an identification that collapses sectarian distance—what is ‘yours’ is not other than the supreme auspicious principle.
The line suggests Mālinī is physically holding or clinging to Śiva—often a dramatic marker of intense devotion, petition, or ritual grasp. Śiva indicates the boon is already granted (dattaṃ), so the devotee may now let go and listen to the doctrinal clarification.
Not directly. Vāmana Purāṇa frequently embeds doctrinal identifications inside tīrtha-mahātmya narration; however, this śloka contains no explicit place-name. Its function is theological/relational, setting up the next verse’s identification of the ‘auspicious one’ with Viṣṇu.