Vamana Purana — Andhaka's Defeat & Redemption, Shloka 50
Andhaka’s Defeat, the Bhairava Manifestation, and His Redemption as Bhṛṅgī Gaṇapati
तस्यां गतायां वरदः कुजस्य प्रादाद् वरं सर्ववरोत्तमं यत् ग्रहाधिपत्यं जगातां शुभाशुभं भविष्यति त्वद्वरागं महात्मन // वम्प्_44.48 हरो ऽन्धकं वर्षसहस्रमात्रं दिव्यं स्वनेत्रार्कहुताशनेन चकार संशुष्कतनुं त्वशोणितं त्वगस्थिशेषं भगवान् स भैरवः // वम्प्_44.49 तत्राग्निना नेत्रभवेन शुद्धः स मुक्तपापो ऽसुरराड् बभुव ततः प्रजानां बहुरूपमीशं नाथं हि सर्वस्य चराचरस्य
tasyāṃ gatāyāṃ varadaḥ kujasya prādād varaṃ sarvavarottamaṃ yat grahādhipatyaṃ jagātāṃ śubhāśubhaṃ bhaviṣyati tvadvarāgaṃ mahātmana // VamP_44.48 haro 'ndhakaṃ varṣasahasramātraṃ divyaṃ svanetrārkahutāśanena cakāra saṃśuṣkatanuṃ tvaśoṇitaṃ tvagasthiśeṣaṃ bhagavān sa bhairavaḥ // VamP_44.49 tatrāgninā netrabhavena śuddhaḥ sa muktapāpo 'surarāḍ babhuva tataḥ prajānāṃ bahurūpamīśaṃ nāthaṃ hi sarvasya carācarasya
When she had gone there, the boon-giver (Kujā/Mars) granted a boon—indeed the best of boons—that he would attain lordship among the planets, becoming the regulator of auspicious and inauspicious outcomes for beings, by the power of your boon, O great-souled one. Then Hara—Bhairava, the Blessed Lord—by the fire that is the sun of his own eye, scorched Andhaka for a full thousand divine years, making his body dried up, without skin and blood, leaving only skin-and-bone remnants. Purified there by that fire born of the (Lord’s) eye, the king of Asuras became freed from sin; thereafter he recognized the many-formed Lord, the master of all, of moving and unmoving beings.
{ "primaryRasa": "raudra", "secondaryRasa": "adbhuta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse frames Kuja’s boon as ‘grahādhipatya’—planetary rulership—implying a jyotiṣa-like worldview where grahas administer karmic results (śubha/āśubha). Mars is classically linked with vigor, conflict, injury, and decisive action; thus his ‘governance’ naturally extends to mixed outcomes depending on merit and demerit.
Both. The narrative explicitly states that Andhaka is ‘śuddhaḥ’ (purified) by the eye-born fire and becomes ‘mukta-pāpa’ (freed from sin). The prolonged burning symbolizes the exhaustion of accumulated impurity and arrogance, converting punishment into a rite of purification.
It is a standard Purāṇic marker of supreme lordship: the deity addressed (Śiva here) is not merely a sectarian god but the master of the entire cosmos—mobile and immobile. This prepares the ground for Andhaka’s forthcoming stuti (hymn) and his shift from opposition to recognition.