Varaha Purana 201.58: Adhyaya 201, Shloka 58
The Battle between the Rākṣasas and Yama’s Attendant-Messengers
खादन्ति चैव घ्नन्ति स्म चित्रगुप्तेन चोदिताः ॥ व्याधीनां च सहस्राणि दूतानां च महाबलाः ॥
khādanti caiva ghnanti sma citraguptena coditāḥ || vyādhīnāṃ ca sahasrāṇi dūtānāṃ ca mahābalāḥ
चित्रगुप्तेन चोदिताः खादन्ति चैव घ्नन्ति स्म; व्याधीनां सहस्राणि दूतानां च महाबलाः सन्ति।
Narrator (Citragupta explicitly mentioned as instigator/administrator)
Varaha Avatara Context: {"is_varaha_focus":false}
Bhu Devi Dialogue: {"is_dialogue":false}
Mathura Mandala: {"is_mathura_related":false}
Dharma Shastra: {"has_dharma_rule":true,"instruction_summary":"The verse frames afterlife enforcement: Citragupta’s administrative prompting mobilizes punitive agents (dūtas) and disease-forces to strike offenders.","karmic_consequence":"Wrongdoing ripens into enforced suffering—assault by Yama’s agents and afflictions—under the supervision of karmic record-keeping."}
Vrata Mahatmya: {"has_vrata":false}
Cosmic Boar Symbolism: {"has_symbolism":false}
Philosophical Teaching: {"has_teaching":true,"teaching_type":"karma-phala and moral administration","core_concept":"Karma is not abstract: it is ‘implemented’ through cosmic order—record, judgment, and execution—symbolized by Citragupta, dūtas, and disease-hosts.","practical_application":"Live with accountability: cultivate dharma, avoid harm, and treat illness/affliction also as a prompt for ethical reflection and correction (without blaming victims simplistically)."}
Subject Matter: ["Ethics","Afterlife jurisprudence","Cosmology"]
Primary Rasa: bhayānaka
Secondary Rasa: raudra
Type: otherworldly court and punishment-fields
Related Themes: Varāha Purāṇa: Narakidaṇḍana-karmavipāka section heading nearby
Visual Art Cues: {"scene_description":"Fierce messengers, driven by Citragupta’s command, strike and devour; behind them swarm personified diseases in countless forms.","item_prompts":["Citragupta with ledger/stylus","Yama-dūtas (dark, formidable)","victims being struck","personified diseases (roga) as shadowy beings","court-like backdrop"],"kerala_mural_prompt":"Kerala mural: Citragupta seated with palm-leaf ledger, dūtas in bold black-red palette, roga-figures as stylized spirits, dense narrative layering.","tanjore_prompt":"Tanjore: Citragupta enthroned with ornate arch and gold leaf, dūtas flanking, dramatic contrast with suffering figures below.","mysore_prompt":"Mysore: detailed court scene, refined expressions, ledger and stylus emphasized, dūtas rendered with controlled ferocity.","pahari_prompt":"Pahari: compact narrative panels—Citragupta issuing order, dūtas executing, roga-spirits hovering—light landscape hints replaced by symbolic space."}
Audio Atmosphere: {"recitation_mood":"ominous juridical severity","suggested_raga":"Todi","pace":"medium","voice_tone":"grave, steady, with weight on verbs ‘khādanti’ and ‘ghnanti’."}
FAQs
It documents the Purāṇic imagination of moral administration where Citragupta functions as a record-keeper/dispatcher within a judicial cosmology.
No geographic location is identified; the imagery belongs to a cosmological-judicial setting.
Actions are portrayed as accountable within an ordered system of consequences, administered through agents and afflictions.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Varaha Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.