Shloka 32

Vamana's Three Steps — Vamana’s Three Steps and the Binding of Bali

Devanagari script

ततः प्रतापिना ब्रह्मन् बृहद्विष्ण्वङ्घ्रिणाम्बरे ब्रह्माण्डोदरमाहत्य निरालोकं जगाम ह

Transliteration

tataḥ pratāpinā brahman bṛhadviṣṇvaṅghriṇāmbare brahmāṇḍodaramāhatya nirālokaṃ jagāma ha

Translation

viśva-aṅghriṇā: by the ‘world-foot’, i.e., Vishnu’s foot encompassing the universe; prasaratā: spreading/expanding; kaṭāha: lit. ‘cauldron’; in cosmological usage, a bowl-like enclosure/covering of the cosmos (often a metaphor for the cosmic shell); bheditaḥ: split, pierced; balāt: by force; kuṭilā: ‘the Crooked/Meandering’—a proper name here of a river/stream; viṣṇupāde: at Vishnu’s foot (Viṣṇupāda), also a sacral locus associated with Viṣṇupadī waters; sametya: having met/merged/come together; tataḥ: then/thereafter.

Speakers

• Narrator addressing a Brahmin listener (internal frame of the Purāṇa’s narration).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Trivikrama)
• Brahmā (implied by ‘Brahmāṇḍa’)

Key Themes

• Transcendence of cosmic boundaries
• Cosmic egg cosmology
• Supremacy of Vishnu’s avatar
• Mythic depiction of the beyond (aloka)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is meant by ‘striking the interior of the Brahmāṇḍa’?

The Brahmāṇḍa is the universe conceived as a bounded shell. Trivikrama’s stride is so vast that it collides with (and in many Purāṇic tellings, pierces) that boundary, dramatizing that the avatar is not contained by the created cosmos.

How should ‘nirāloka’ be understood—hell, void, or transcendence?

‘Nirāloka’ literally means ‘without light’ and can indicate a region beyond the illumined, structured worlds—an imagistic way to speak of the extra-cosmic beyond rather than a specific naraka (hell). Contextually it marks transcendence past the cosmic enclosure.

Does this verse connect to later motifs like the Ganges descending from Vishnu’s foot?

Indirectly. Many traditions link the cosmic stride and the foot’s contact with higher realms to the emergence of sacred waters (e.g., Gaṅgā as Viṣṇupadī). This verse itself, however, focuses on the Brahmāṇḍa boundary and the ‘beyond-world’ region.