Vamana Purana — Sacred Abodes of Vishnu & Shiva, Shloka 13

Catalogue of Vishnu and Shiva’s Sacred Abodes (Tirtha-Mahatmya within the Pulastya–Narada Frame)

Devanagari script

अवनतिविषये विष्णुं निषधेष्वमरेश्वरम् पाञ्चालिकं च ब्रह्मर्षे पाञ्चालेषु व्यवस्थितम्

Transliteration

avanativiṣaye viṣṇuṃ niṣadheṣvamareśvaram pāñcālikaṃ ca brahmarṣe pāñcāleṣu vyavasthitam

Translation

{"primary_rasa": "adbhuta", "secondary_rasa": "shanta", "intensity": 7, "emotional_arc": "From ritual action (going before Keśava, bathing) to surprising pacification of Rudra, ending in calm resolution.", "mood_keywords": ["pilgrimage", "purification", "appeasement", "sectarian harmony", "tirtha power", "wonder"]}

Word by Word

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Speakers

• Contextual narrator within the Adhyāya’s catalogue addressing a ‘brahmarṣi’ (the listener is explicitly addressed as brahmarṣi).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu
• Shiva

Key Themes

• Regionalization of worship (deities as janapada-pālas)
• Śaiva–Vaiṣṇava co-presence in a single itinerary
• Pilgrimage cartography of North/Central India

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

How can the same catalogue place both Viṣṇu and Amareśvara (a Śiva-title) in adjacent lines?

Such lists are intentionally ecumenical: the Purāṇa maps a shared sacred landscape where Vaiṣṇava and Śaiva sites coexist, encouraging comprehensive tīrtha-yātrā rather than sectarian exclusivity.

What is ‘Niṣadha’ here—people, region, or mountain?

In Purāṇic usage, Niṣadha can denote a janapada/people and also a cosmographic mountain. The locative plural ‘niṣadheṣu’ favors a territorial/people sense (‘in the Niṣadha lands’), though the tradition often allows overlap between ethnographic and topographic referents.

Who is ‘Pāñcālika’?

It is best read as a regional shrine-epithet—‘the (deity) of the Pāñcālas’—indicating a locally established form worshipped in Pāñcāla country, parallel to how other verses tie specific divine names to specific ranges or districts.