Vamana Purana — Shukra's Curse on King Danda, Shloka 19

Shukra’s Curse on King Danda and Andhaka’s Challenge to Shiva

Devanagari script

गालवो ऽपि समं ताभ्यां कन्यकाभ्यामवातरत् स्नातुं स पुष्करे तीर्थे मध्यमे धनुषाकृतौ

Transliteration

gālavo 'pi samaṃ tābhyāṃ kanyakābhyāmavātarat snātuṃ sa puṣkare tīrthe madhyame dhanuṣākṛtau

Translation

Galava também desceu juntamente com aquelas duas donzelas para banhar-se no tīrtha sagrado de Puṣkara—no Puṣkara do Meio, em forma de arco.

Speakers

• Narrator voice (Purāṇic narrator continuing the Pushkara episode)

Primary Deities

• Brahma (implied by Puṣkara sanctity)
• Vishnu (general tīrtha framework, not explicit)
• Shiva (general tīrtha framework, not explicit)

Key Themes

• Tirtha Yatra (pilgrimage)
• Snāna (ritual bathing)
• Sacred geography and micro-topography of Puṣkara
• Merit of bathing at designated sub-tīrthas

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is meant by ‘Madhyama Puṣkara’ in this verse?

Puṣkara is presented as a complex sacred landscape with internal divisions; ‘Madhyama’ denotes the ‘Middle Puṣkara’—a specific sector/sub-tīrtha within the Puṣkara pilgrimage field, distinguished from other Puṣkara locales (e.g., ‘Ādi’/‘Jyeṣṭha’/‘Kaniṣṭha’ patterns found in tīrtha traditions).

Why does the text specify the tīrtha’s shape as ‘dhanuṣākṛti’ (bow-shaped)?

Purāṇic tīrtha descriptions often preserve local topography and ritual mapping. The bow-shape functions as a geographic identifier (how the basin/shoreline is perceived) and as a sacral marker, helping pilgrims locate the correct bathing spot and understand its distinctiveness within Puṣkara.

Is this verse primarily theological or geographical?

Both, but the emphasis here is geographical-ritual: it anchors the narrative in a precisely named sub-site (Madhyama Puṣkara) and frames the action as tīrtha-snāna, a key ritual act through which merit (puṇya) is generated.