Varaha Purana 10.2: Adhyaya 10, Shloka 2
The Threefold Division by the Guṇas, the Deities’ Attainment of Worship, and the Opening of the Durjaya Episode
Pūrva Bhāga · Cosmogonic Narratives (Deva-yajña and Nārāyaṇa as Puruṣa)
वृद्धायामथ सृष्टौ तु सर्वे देवाः पुरातनम् । नारायणाख्यं पुरुषं यजन्तो विविधैर्मखैः ॥ १०.२ ॥
vṛddhāyām atha sṛṣṭau tu sarve devāḥ purātanam | nārāyaṇākhyaṁ puruṣaṁ yajanto vividhair makhaiḥ || 10.2 ||
vRRiddhAyAmatha sRRiShTau tu sarve devAH purAtanam | nArAyaNAkhyaM puruShaM yajanto vividhairmakhaiH || 10.2 ||
वृद्धायां सृष्टौ तु सर्वे देवाः पुरातनं नारायणाख्यं पुरुषं विविधैर्मखैः यजन्ति स्म।
Sandhi Notes
- नारायणाख्यम् → नारायण + आख्यम्
- विविधैर्मखैः → विविधैः + मखैः
Varāha
All sacrificial culture ultimately addresses the primordial Nārāyaṇa (Puruṣa) as the supreme object of worship.
Perform ritual and devotion with the understanding that the inner recipient is Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa, not merely the visible deities or outcomes.
The verse frames Nārāyaṇa as the primordial Puruṣa who is the true recipient and ground of yajña; it sets up the Purāṇic move where ritual efficacy is rooted in Viṣṇu as the inner self of sacrifice (yajñātmā).
Puruṣa-Nārāyaṇa as the ontological source of creation and the immanent Lord of ritual action; yajña becomes a mode of approaching Brahman/Īśvara rather than a merely transactional rite.
Nārāyaṇa named as primordial Puruṣa; implicit Vaiṣṇava theology that later culminates in avatāras, but no explicit Kṛṣṇa/Mathurā cue here.
Varāha Purāṇa: surrounding narrative of devas’ long yajña leading to the Lord’s pratyakṣa-darśana (10.10.4ff)
FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic synthesis in which cosmic history is narrated alongside ritual culture, presenting the gods’ sacrificial activity as a marker of world-order in expanded/renewed creation.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the focus is cosmological (creation’s expansion) and ritual (the gods’ worship).
Rather than a direct moral injunction, the verse foregrounds a philosophical model of maintaining order through disciplined, communal rites and acknowledgment of a primordial cosmic principle (puruṣa).
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