Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 10
Sūrya’s Celestial Car: Ādityas, Ṛṣis, Gandharvas, Apsarases, Nāgas, and the Two-Month Cosmic Cycle
वासुकिः कङ्कनीरश्च तक्षकः सर्पपुङ्गवः / एलापत्रः शङ्खपालस्तथैरावतसंज्ञितः
vāsukiḥ kaṅkanīraśca takṣakaḥ sarpapuṅgavaḥ / elāpatraḥ śaṅkhapālastathairāvatasaṃjñitaḥ
ਵਾਸੁਕੀ, ਕੰਗਨੀਰ, ਸੱਪਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਸ਼੍ਰੇਸ਼ਠ ਤਕਸ਼ਕ; ਅਤੇ ਏਲਾਪਤ੍ਰ, ਸ਼ੰਖਪਾਲ, ਤੇ ‘ਐਰਾਵਤ’ ਨਾਮ ਵਾਲਾ—ਇਹ (ਨਾਗ) ਕਹੇ ਗਏ ਹਨ।
Sūta (narrator) recounting the Purāṇic catalogue to the sages (Śaunaka and others)
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: vira
FAQs
This verse is a nominative catalogue of Nāga beings; it does not directly teach Ātman-doctrine, but it supports the Purāṇic worldview in which all orders of beings are situated within a single cosmic reality governed by Dharma.
No specific Yoga practice is taught in this verse; it functions as a genealogical/encyclopedic listing. In the Kurma Purana, Yoga teachings appear more explicitly in the Upari-bhāga (notably the Īśvara-gītā and Pāśupata-oriented instructions).
The verse itself is non-sectarian and descriptive, naming Nāga lords without theological polemic. In the broader Kurma Purana frame, such catalogues sit within a synthesis that presents the cosmos as harmonized under the one Supreme, expressed through both Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava idioms.