Vamana Purana — Sukeshi's Inquiry into Dharma, Shloka 11
Sukeshi’s Inquiry into Dharma: The Seven Dvipas and the Twenty-One Hells
आजघान तलेनेभं कुम्भमध्ये पदा करे जानुना च समाहत्य विषाणं प्रबभञ्ज च / 10.10 वाममुष्ट्या तथा पार्श्वं समाहत्यान्धकस्त्वरन् गजेन्द्रं पातयामास प्रहारैर्जर्जरीकृतम्
ājaghāna talenebhaṃ kumbhamadhye padā kare jānunā ca samāhatya viṣāṇaṃ prababhañja ca / 10.10 vāmamuṣṭyā tathā pārśvaṃ samāhatyāndhakastvaran gajendraṃ pātayāmāsa prahārairjarjarīkṛtam
அந்தகன் யானை அரசனின் கும்பஸ்தலத்தின் நடுவில் உள்ளங்கையால் அடித்தான்; காலாலும் கையாலும் முழங்காலாலும் தாக்கி அதன் தந்தத்தை முறித்தான். பின்னர் இடது குத்தியால் பக்கவாட்டை அடித்து, பல அடிகளால் சிதைந்த அந்த யானை அரசனை தரையில் வீழ்த்தினான்।
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FAQs
Purāṇic battle scenes often stress that adharma can display terrifying effectiveness (even against symbols of royal/divine power like the elephant-king), but such force is narratively framed as ultimately self-defeating when set against cosmic order.
Vamśānucarita / narrative episode (deva–daitya struggle) rather than cosmogenesis; it contributes to the Purāṇic historical-mythic account of conflicts among exalted beings.
The elephant-king functions as a sign of sovereignty and stable rule (aiśvarya). Its battering and fall dramatize a temporary eclipse of orderly kingship by chaotic power—an image that typically prepares the way for restoration through divine alignment (often via a higher deity’s intervention later in the arc).