Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 27

Portents at Bali’s Sacrifice and the Kośakāra’s Son: The Power of Past Karma

Devanagari script

तत्रोत्सृज्य स्वपुत्रं सा जग्राह द्विजनन्दनम् तमादाय जगामाथ भोक्तुं शालोदरे गिरौ

Transliteration

tatrotsṛjya svaputraṃ sā jagrāha dvijanandanam tamādāya jagāmātha bhoktuṃ śālodare girau

Translation

सा तत्र स्वपुत्रमुत्सृज्य द्विजनन्दनं जग्राह; तमादाय शालोदरे गिरौ भोक्तुं जगाम।

Speakers

• Narrator (Purāṇic frame; likely Pulastya to Nārada)

Key Themes

• Infant substitution
• Predation and protection motifs
• Toponymic anchoring of legend (giri-name)
• Tīrtha-etiology through localized myth

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is the narrative function of introducing ‘Śālodara mountain’ here?

Naming a specific giri localizes the episode, a hallmark of the Vāmana Purāṇa’s geography-driven storytelling. The mountain becomes a mnemonic anchor for later tīrtha identification, pilgrimage instruction, or the explanation of a local shrine/rite.

How should dvijanandanam be understood—does it merely mean ‘brāhmaṇa boy’?

More than a label, dvija-nandana is an honorific: ‘the joy of the twice-born’. It heightens the pathos and dharmic stakes—harm to a brāhmaṇa child is a grave transgression—thereby intensifying the moral urgency of the coming intervention.

Is ‘bhoktuṃ’ literal cannibalism or a conventional demon trope?

Within Purāṇic rakṣasī lore it is typically literal within the story-world, but also trope-like: it signals extreme adharma and the inversion of nurturing (a child is meant to be fed, not eaten). This inversion often sets the stage for divine or sacred-place mediated restoration.