Vamana Purana — Prahlada's Tirtha Circuit, Shloka 55

Prahlada’s Pilgrimage Circuit: Tirtha-Mahatmya from Naimisha to Rudrakoti and Shalagrama

Devanagari script

पद्मनाभं स तत्रर्च्य सप्तगोदावरं ययौ तत्र स्नात्वार्ऽच्य विश्वेशं भीमं त्रैलोक्यवन्दितम्

Transliteration

padmanābhaṃ sa tatrarcya saptagodāvaraṃ yayau tatra snātvār'cya viśveśaṃ bhīmaṃ trailokyavanditam

Translation

[{"question": "What is the significance of ‘hundreds of years’ in this verse?", "answer": "Purāṇas often use extended time spans to convey the durability of karmic momentum and the entrenched nature of adharma. It underscores that moral transformation is not automatic; without corrective causes, a being can remain fixed in a degraded vṛtti for very long periods."}, {"question": "How should we understand ‘he did not like any other vṛtti’?", "answer": "It describes a moral-psychological condition: repeated wrongdoing forms a taste (ruci) for adharma, making dharmic alternatives feel unattractive. The verse attributes this to ‘karma-doṣa’—the residual force of past actions shaping present preferences."}, {"question": "Does this deny the possibility of redemption?", "answer": "Not necessarily. The verse describes the default trajectory under unopposed karmic conditioning. Elsewhere in Purāṇic literature, contact with saints, tīrthas, vows, or divine grace can interrupt such trajectories; this passage simply emphasizes how strong the inertia of sin can be."}]

Word by Word

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Speakers

• Narrator (Purāṇic narrator) describing a pilgrim’s itinerary (speaker not explicit in the given excerpt).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Padmanabha)
• Shiva (Vishvesha/Bhima)

Key Themes

• Tirtha Yatra (pilgrimage sequence)
• Snana (ritual bathing)
• Shaiva–Vaishnava unity (worship of Vishnu then Shiva)
• Lingarcana (liṅga worship)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Why does the verse place Padmanābha worship immediately before Śiva-worship at Saptagodāvara?

This is a characteristic Purāṇic pilgrimage pattern: the yātrā is not sectarian but integrative. The pilgrim honors Viṣṇu (Padmanābha) and then proceeds to a Śaiva tirtha (Viśveśa/Bhīma), presenting tīrtha-travel as a harmonizing practice across major deities.

What is ‘Saptagodāvara’ in geographical terms?

The compound suggests a Godāvarī sacred zone marked by ‘seven’—commonly interpreted as seven streams/branches, seven confluences, or seven stations of merit along the river. The text treats it as a named tirtha destination where snāna and liṅga-arcana are central.

Who is ‘Bhīma’ here—an epithet or a specific shrine?

Both readings are possible in Purāṇic usage. Grammatically it qualifies the deity as ‘mighty/terrible,’ but in many tirtha-catalogues ‘Bhīma’ also functions as a proper name for a particular liṅga revered as ‘worshipped by the three worlds.’