Vamana Purana — Sukeshi's Inquiry into Dharma, Shloka 11
Sukeshi’s Inquiry into Dharma: The Seven Dvipas and the Twenty-One Hells
आजघान तलेनेभं कुम्भमध्ये पदा करे जानुना च समाहत्य विषाणं प्रबभञ्ज च / 10.10 वाममुष्ट्या तथा पार्श्वं समाहत्यान्धकस्त्वरन् गजेन्द्रं पातयामास प्रहारैर्जर्जरीकृतम्
ājaghāna talenebhaṃ kumbhamadhye padā kare jānunā ca samāhatya viṣāṇaṃ prababhañja ca / 10.10 vāmamuṣṭyā tathā pārśvaṃ samāhatyāndhakastvaran gajendraṃ pātayāmāsa prahārairjarjarīkṛtam
Dia memukul gajah agung pada dahi, di tengah bonggolnya, dengan tapak tangan, dengan kaki dan dengan tangan; dia juga menghentam dengan lutut serta mematahkan gadingnya. Kemudian Andhaka, dengan tergesa-gesa, menumbuk rusuknya dengan penumbuk kiri dan, setelah membedalnya dengan pukulan bertubi-tubi, menjatuhkan raja gajah itu hingga remuk.
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FAQs
Purāṇic battle scenes often stress that adharma can display terrifying effectiveness (even against symbols of royal/divine power like the elephant-king), but such force is narratively framed as ultimately self-defeating when set against cosmic order.
Vamśānucarita / narrative episode (deva–daitya struggle) rather than cosmogenesis; it contributes to the Purāṇic historical-mythic account of conflicts among exalted beings.
The elephant-king functions as a sign of sovereignty and stable rule (aiśvarya). Its battering and fall dramatize a temporary eclipse of orderly kingship by chaotic power—an image that typically prepares the way for restoration through divine alignment (often via a higher deity’s intervention later in the arc).