Vamana Purana — Vamana's Birth, Shloka 48

Vamana’s Birth during Bali’s Horse-Sacrifice and the Mapping of Vishnu’s Sacred Presences

Devanagari script

एवं कृतोपनयनो भगवान् भूतभावनः संस्तूयमानो ऋषिभिः साङ्गं वेदमधीयत

Transliteration

evaṃ kṛtopanayano bhagavān bhūtabhāvanaḥ saṃstūyamāno ṛṣibhiḥ sāṅgaṃ vedamadhīyata

Translation

{"bhagavata_parallel": "Bhāgavata Purāṇa 8.18–8.19 (Vāmana as brahmacārin approaching; emphasis on Vedic form and discipline)", "vishnu_purana_parallel": "Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.17; 5.1 (Vedic learning and divine pedagogy motifs; Vāmana narrative parallels in 3.2 (Bali episode)", "ramayana_connection": "Rāmāyaṇa 1.1–1.4 (Vedic mastery and itihāsa/ākhyāna framing; rishi transmission)", "mahabharata_echo": "Mahābhārata 12 (Śānti/Anuśāsana: śruti-smṛti as dharma-pramāṇa; Gandharva association with Sāman)", "other_puranas": ["Padma Purāṇa (Sāmaveda-mahima passages)", "Skanda Purāṇa (Gandharva/śruti-kīrtana motifs)"], "vedic_reference": "Sāmaveda (sāman as liturgical chant); Ṛgvedic Gandharva as guardian of soma/śruti motifs (e.g., RV 9.83; RV 10.123 themes)"}

Speakers

• Narratorial voice (Purāṇic narrator) describing Bhagavān; interlocutors not specified in the provided excerpt.

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Bhagavān)

Key Themes

• Dharma of Vedic initiation
• Ideal of divine humility (Lord adopting brahmacarya discipline)
• Authority of Veda and Vedāṅgas
• Sage praise (stuti in narrative form)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why does the text emphasize the Lord’s upanayana and Vedic study?

It presents Bhagavān as the archetype of dharma: even as supreme, he models the social-religious discipline of brahmacarya and the authority of śruti, legitimizing Vedic learning as a sacred norm.

What does ‘sāṅgaṃ vedaṃ’ imply in Purāṇic usage?

It indicates not only recitation of the Veda but mastery supported by the Vedāṅgas (auxiliaries such as phonetics, ritual, grammar, etymology, meter, and astronomy), i.e., complete traditional competence.

Is this a stuti (hymn) verse or narrative prose in meter?

It is narrative in śloka meter but includes a stuti element (‘being praised by sages’), showing that praise accompanies and authorizes the Lord’s dharmic acts.