Padma Purana — Svarga Khanda, Shloka 46

Qualities of the Five Great Elements; Description of Sudarśana-dvīpa and Mount Meru

Devanagari script

विश्वरूपात्परमिता भीमनिर्घातनिस्वना । पुण्यापुण्यतमैर्जुष्टा गंगा भागीरथी शुभा

Transliteration

viśvarūpātparamitā bhīmanirghātanisvanā | puṇyāpuṇyatamairjuṣṭā gaṃgā bhāgīrathī śubhā

Translation

မင်္ဂလာရှိသော ဂင်္ဂါ ဘာဂီရထီ သည် အမျိုးမျိုးသော ရုပ်သဏ္ဍာန်ဖြင့် အားလုံးထက် လွန်ကဲ၍ ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် မိုးကြိုးပေါက်သံကဲ့သို့ မြည်ဟည်းသည်။ အလွန်ပုဏ္ဏဝန်နှင့် အလွန်အပြစ်ရှိသူတို့ နှစ်ဖက်စလုံးကလည်း ထိုမြစ်ကို သွားရောက်သုံးဆောင်ကြသည်။

Word by Word

• विश्व-रूपात्: from Viśvarūpa
• विश्व-रूपात्: Apādāna (अपादानम्)
• Type: Noun
• Root: विश्व (प्रातिपदिक) + रूप (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter (नपुंसकलिङ्ग), Ablative (5th/पञ्चमी), Singular (एकवचन); कर्मधारयः (विश्वं रूपं यस्य/विश्व-रूप) — from Viśvarūpa (a place/name)

• परमिता: having reached (far)
• परमिता: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषणम्)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: परम् (अव्यय/प्रातिपदिक) + इ (धातु) + क्त (कृदन्त) → परमित (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); agreeing with गंगा — having reached the farthest/arrived

• भीम-निर्घात-निस्वना: thundering terribly
• भीम-निर्घात-निस्वना: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषणम्)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: भीम (प्रातिपदिक) + निर्घात (प्रातिपदिक) + निस्वन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); बहुपद-तत्पुरुषः (भीमः निर्घातः यस्य निस्वनः) — having a sound like dreadful thunder

• पुण्य-अपुण्य-तमैः: by intense merit and demerit
• पुण्य-अपुण्य-तमैः: Karaṇa (करणम्)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पुण्य (प्रातिपदिक) + अपुण्य (प्रातिपदिक) + तम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental (3rd/तृतीया), Plural (बहुवचन); द्वन्द्वः (पुण्यं च अपुण्यं च) + तमैः (श्रेष्ठैः/अत्यन्तैः) — by the most (powerful) merits and demerits / by very auspicious and inauspicious (forces)

• जुष्टा: attended by/associated with
• जुष्टा: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषणम्)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जुष् (धातु) + क्त (कृदन्त) → जुष्ट (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); agreeing with गंगा — attended/associated/inhabited

• गंगा: Gaṅgā
• गंगा: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: गङ्गा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन)

• भागीरथी: Bhāgīrathī
• भागीरथी: Samānādhikaraṇa (समानाधिकरणम्)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भागीरथी (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); apposition to गंगा

• शुभा: auspicious
• शुभा: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषणम्)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शुभ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Feminine (स्त्रीलिङ्ग), Nominative (1st/प्रथमा), Singular (एकवचन); agreeing with गंगा

Speaker

Unspecified (narrative voice within Padma Purana Svarga-khaṇḍa dialogue context)

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: adbhuta

Secondary Rasa: shanta

Geographic Context

Type: river

Sandhi Resolution Notes

Sandhi Resolution Notes: विश्वरूपात्परमिता = विश्व-रूपात् परमिता; पुण्यापुण्यतमैर्जुष्टा = पुण्य-अपुण्य-तमैः जुष्टा

Characters & Entities

• Gaṅgā
• Bhāgīrathī

FAQs

What does this verse convey about Gaṅgā as a tīrtha?

It portrays Gaṅgā as an auspicious sacred ford approached by all kinds of people—those rich in merit as well as those burdened with sin—highlighting her universal accessibility as a purifier and spiritual refuge.

Why is Gaṅgā described as having a thunder-like sound?

The imagery emphasizes her overwhelming, awe-inspiring power in nature—suggesting both majesty and spiritual potency, as if her very roar proclaims her sacred force.

What ethical or spiritual lesson is implied by “frequented by the most meritorious and the most sinful”?

The verse implies that sacred spaces are not exclusive: the righteous honor them, and the fallen seek renewal there—encouraging repentance, humility, and the pursuit of purification.