Vamana Purana — Shukra's Curse on King Danda, Shloka 128

Shukra’s Curse on King Danda and Andhaka’s Challenge to Shiva

Devanagari script

ततः कपिवरः प्राप्तो घृताच्या सह सुन्दरि स्नात्वा गोदावरीतीर्थे दिदृक्षुर्हाटकेश्वरम्

Transliteration

tataḥ kapivaraḥ prāpto ghṛtācyā saha sundari snātvā godāvarītīrthe didṛkṣurhāṭakeśvaram

Translation

ततः कपिवरः सुन्दरीं घृताचीं सह प्राप्य, गोदावरीतीर्थे स्नात्वा हाटकेश्वरं द्रष्टुम् ऐच्छत्।

Speakers

• Narrator voice describing the arrival and ritual sequence (snāna → darśana).

Primary Deities

• Shiva

Key Themes

• Tirtha Mahima and pilgrimage procedure
• Snāna (ritual bathing) as prerequisite to darśana
• Local Śaiva sacred site embedded in pan-Indic geography

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is the ritual logic of ‘snātvā … didṛkṣuḥ’ (bathed, then wished to see)?

Purāṇic tīrtha-vidhi commonly sequences purification (snāna) before temple/shrine encounter (darśana). Bathing at the river-tīrtha ritually qualifies the pilgrim to approach the deity, especially in Śaiva contexts where tīrtha-snānā is treated as a purifier of pāpa.

Who is Ghṛtācī and why is she present in a tīrtha narrative?

Ghṛtācī is an Apsaras (celestial nymph) frequently appearing in Purāṇic and epic narratives. Her presence can signal a mythic backstory for the site, a test/temptation motif, or simply the participation of celestial beings in the sanctity of a tīrtha—indicating that the place draws both human and divine/celestial attention.

What does the name Haṭakeśvara suggest about the shrine’s character?

The compound points to a localized Śiva form (‘Īśvara’). While etymologies vary by tradition, such names typically encode a site-specific legend (sthāna-māhātmya) and mark the liṅga as a distinct manifestation tied to that geography—here, explicitly linked to the Godāvarī riverbank.