Vamana Purana — Vamana's Birth, Shloka 53
Vamana’s Birth during Bali’s Horse-Sacrifice and the Mapping of Vishnu’s Sacred Presences
समाविष्टानि पश्यस्व तेजांसि पृथिवीतले ये संनिधानाः सततं मदंशाः पुण्यवर्धनाः तेनाहं प्रतिजानामि कुरुक्षेत्रं गतो बलिः
samāviṣṭāni paśyasva tejāṃsi pṛthivītale ye saṃnidhānāḥ satataṃ madaṃśāḥ puṇyavardhanāḥ tenāhaṃ pratijānāmi kurukṣetraṃ gato baliḥ
svāhākāra: the utterance “svāhā,” the consecrating formula in fire-offerings to deities; hantakāra: the exclamation “hanta,” an emphatic particle used in discourse (often ‘indeed!, come!, well!’), here treated as a sound-form of divine presence; sarvākāra: “having all forms,” immanent in every manifestation; nirākāra: “formless,” transcendent beyond attributes and shape; vedākāra: “having the form of the Veda,” i.e., the deity as the very structure/authority of revealed knowledge; namas: salutation.
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "vira", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse presents sacred potency as a distributed divine presence (aṃśa). In Purāṇic cosmology, tīrthas and ritual sites are ‘charged’ by such tejas, making them puṇya-vardhana—capable of increasing merit through contact, ritual, or residence.
It uses observable/experienced auspicious potency (tejas, saṃnidhāna) as a diagnostic for locating a major ritual event. The sacred landscape is not inert; it is read as a field of divine signs that confirm Bali’s presence at Kurukṣetra.
By anchoring a major mythic-ritual episode (Aśvamedha and the Vāmana encounter) in a named tīrtha-region, the text elevates Kurukṣetra’s status and integrates narrative authority into the map of sacred places.