Vamana Purana — Prahlada's Victory through Bhakti, Shloka 61

Prahlada’s Defeat in Battle and Victory through Bhakti (Nara-Narayana Episode)

Devanagari script

प्रह्लाद उवाच या या जायेय मे बुद्धिः सा सा विष्णो त्वदाश्रिता देवार्चने च निरता त्वच्चित्ता त्वत्परायणा

Transliteration

prahlāda uvāca yā yā jāyeya me buddhiḥ sā sā viṣṇo tvadāśritā devārcane ca niratā tvaccittā tvatparāyaṇā

Translation

ပရဟ္လာဒက မိန့်သည်– «ကျွန်ုပ်၏ဉာဏ်တွင် ပေါ်လာသမျှ အတွေးအခေါ်တိုင်းသည်၊ ဗိဿနုရေ၊ သင့်ကိုသာ အားကိုးတည်မှီပါ၏။ ဒေဝကို ပူဇော်ရာ၌ အမြဲစိုက်ထုတ်၍၊ စိတ်ကို သင့်ထံတွင် တည်စေကာ၊ သင့်ကိုသာ အမြတ်တင်အပ်နှံပါ၏»။

Word by Word

• prahlādaḥ: Prahlāda
• prahlādaḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: prahlāda (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• uvāca: said
• uvāca: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: vac (धातु)
• Form: लिट्-लकार (Perfect), प्रथम-पुरुष, एकवचन, परस्मैपद

• yā: whatever (which)
• yā: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; सम्बन्धसूचक (relative)

• yā: whatever
• yā: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; पुनरुक्ति (emphatic repetition)

• jāyeta: may arise
• jāyeta: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: jan (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), प्रथम-पुरुष, एकवचन, आत्मनेपद; √jan ‘to arise/be born’

• me: my
• me: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Noun
• Root: asmad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; षष्ठी-विभक्ति (Genitive), एकवचन; enclitic

• buddhiḥ: thought/mind
• buddhiḥ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: buddhi (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• sā: that
• sā: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• sā: that (indeed)
• sā: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tad (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सर्वनाम; स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; पुनरुक्ति (emphatic)

• viṣṇo: O Viṣṇu
• viṣṇo: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Type: Noun
• Root: viṣṇu (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन (Vocative), एकवचन

• tvad-āśritā: dependent on you
• tvad-āśritā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tvad (प्रातिपदिक) + āśrita (कृदन्त; √śri धातु)
• Form: समास: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (tvad-āśrita ‘dependent on you’); स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; भूतकृदन्त (past passive participle)

• deva-arcane: in worship of the gods
• deva-arcane: Adhikaraṇa (अधिकरण/Location)
• Type: Noun
• Root: deva (प्रातिपदिक) + arcana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: समास: षष्ठी-तत्पुरुष (devānām arcanam); नपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी-विभक्ति (Locative), एकवचन

• ca: and
• ca: Samuccaya (समुच्चय/Connector)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चय (conjunction)

• niratā: engaged/intent
• niratā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: nirata (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन; विशेषणम्

• tvac-cittā: mind fixed on you
• tvac-cittā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tvad (प्रातिपदिक) + citta (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: समास: बहुव्रीहि (yasya cittam tvayi ‘whose mind is on you’); स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

• tvat-parāyaṇā: having you as the supreme goal/refuge
• tvat-parāyaṇā: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: tvad (प्रातिपदिक) + parāyaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: समास: बहुव्रीहि (yasya parāyaṇam tvam ‘whose sole refuge is you’); स्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा-विभक्ति, एकवचन

Speakers

• Prahlāda to Vishnu (Nārāyaṇa)

Primary Deities

• Vishnu

Key Themes

• Bhakti
• Śaraṇāgati (refuge)
• Inner worship (citta-niyama)
• Devotional ethics beyond sectarian identity

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "adbhuta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The highest boon is not power but steadfast God-centered cognition: aligning buddhi and citta to the Divine makes worship continuous and converts all arising thoughts into devotion.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana?

Vamśānucarita/Carita with strong dharma-upadeśa (ethical instruction): Prahlāda’s exemplary devotion functions as normative teaching within the narrative lineage of Daityas.

What is the symbolic significance?

Prahlāda embodies the ‘devotee within the Asura’: the verse symbolizes transformation of the asuric tendency (self-assertion) into theistic dependence (tvadāśraya), making the mind itself a temple.