Agni Purana — Agneya-vidya, Shloka 23

Explanation of the Vāsudeva and Related Mantras (वासुदेवादिमन्त्रनिरूपणम्)

Devanagari script

आकाशं व्यापकं न्यस्य करे देहे तु पूर्ववत् अङ्गुलीषु च वाय्वादि शिरोहृद्गुह्यपादके

Transliteration

ākāśaṃ vyāpakaṃ nyasya kare dehe tu pūrvavat aṅgulīṣu ca vāyvādi śirohṛdguhyapādake

Translation

အလုံးစုံပျံ့နှံ့သော အာကာသ (Ākāśa) ကို နျာသဖြင့် လက်ပေါ်တွင် တင်သွင်းပြီး၊ ယခင်ကဲ့သို့ ကိုယ်ခန္ဓာပေါ်တွင်လည်း တင်သွင်းရမည်။ ထို့ပြင် လက်ချောင်းများတွင် ဝါယု စသည့် ဓာတ်တရားများကို ထားရမည်။ ခေါင်း၊ နှလုံး၊ လျှို့ဝှက်အင်္ဂါဒေသနှင့် ခြေတို့တွင်လည်း တင်သွင်းရမည်။

Word by Word

• आकाशम्: ether/space
• आकाशम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: आकाश (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; कर्म

• व्यापकम्: all-pervading
• व्यापकम्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: व्यापक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषण

• न्यस्य: having placed
• न्यस्य: Purvakala (पूर्वकाल)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नि- अस्/न्यस् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त (absolutive/gerund), अव्ययभाव — 'having placed'

• करे: in the hand
• करे: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचन; अधिकरण

• देहे: in the body
• देहे: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: देह (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचन; अधिकरण

• तु: indeed/but
• तु: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु (अव्यय)
• Form: विरोध/अन्वयबोधक अव्यय (particle: 'but/indeed')

• पूर्ववत्: as before
• पूर्ववत्: Kriya-visheshana (क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पूर्ववत् (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय (adverb) — 'as before'

• अङ्गुलीषु: in the fingers
• अङ्गुलीषु: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अङ्गुली (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, बहुवचन; अधिकरण

• च: and
• च: Samuccaya (समुच्चय)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चयबोधक अव्यय (conjunction)

• वायु-आदि: Vāyu and others
• वायु-आदि: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वायु (प्रातिपदिक) + आदि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन; कर्म — 'Vāyu etc.' (series of deities/elements)

• शिरः-हृद्-गुह्य-पादके: in the head, heart, genitals, and feet
• शिरः-हृद्-गुह्य-पादके: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिरस् (प्रातिपदिक) + हृद् (प्रातिपदिक) + गुह्य (प्रातिपदिक) + पादक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचन; अधिकरण — 'in the head, heart, secret part, and feet-region' (multi-member compound)

Speaker

Lord Agni (in instruction to Sage Vasiṣṭha, typical Agni Purāṇa dialogue frame)

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: adbhuta

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Sandhi Resolution Notes

Sandhi Resolution Notes: न्यस्य = क्त्वान्त; वाय्वादि = वायु-आदि; शिरोहृद्गुह्यपादके = शिरः-हृद्-गुह्य-पादके.

Characters & Entities

• Ākāśa (ether)
• Vāyu (wind)
• Pañca-bhūta (five elements)
• Nyāsa

FAQs

What technical or ritual knowledge (Vidya) is imparted in this verse?

It teaches pañca-bhūta-nyāsa within pūjā/śādhana: installing Ākāśa on the hand and body, and placing Vāyu and the other elements on the fingers and key bodily stations (head, heart, secret region, feet) to ritually purify and empower the practitioner.

How does this verse contribute to the 'Encyclopedic' nature of the Agni Purana?

Beyond mythology, the Agni Purāṇa preserves practical liturgical technology—precise nyāsa mapping (kara/aṅga placement) used in temple worship and mantra-sādhana—showing its coverage of ritual procedure alongside other sciences.

What is the spiritual or karmic significance of this specific instruction?

Elemental nyāsa functions as inner purification (bhūta-śuddhi), aligning the body as a fit vessel for worship; it is held to remove ritual impurity, stabilize concentration, and make mantra-recitation more efficacious.