Vamana Purana — Harihara Revelation, Shloka 9
Harihara Revelation and the Kurukshetra Tirtha Cycle: Sthanu in Vishnu and the Sanctification of Saptasarasvata
विप्रोष्यं ब्रह्महरणं ब्राह्मणानां विनिन्दनम् विरोधं बन्धुभिश्चोक्तं नवमं नरपाचनम्
viproṣyaṃ brahmaharaṇaṃ brāhmaṇānāṃ vinindanam virodhaṃ bandhubhiścoktaṃ navamaṃ narapācanam
బ్రాహ్మణునికి హాని చేయడం, ‘బ్రహ్మ’ను హరించడం (పవిత్ర జ్ఞానం/వేదసంపదను అపహరించడం), బ్రాహ్మణులను నిందించడం, అలాగే బంధువులతో వైరం పెంచడం—ఇవన్నీ చేసినవారికి తొమ్మిదవ నరకం ‘నరపాచన’మని ప్రకటించబడింది.
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FAQs
In Purāṇic dharma lists, brahma-haraṇa commonly functions as a grave transgression involving ‘brahman’ as sacred capital: (a) theft of Vedic learning/appropriation of sacred knowledge without right, and/or (b) theft of property dedicated to Vedic rites or belonging to brāhmaṇas. The surrounding items (brāhmaṇa-harm and brāhmaṇa-slander) support the broader sense: violating the sanctity and support-system of Vedic culture.
The verse clusters acts that rupture foundational supports of dharma: the ritual-intellectual pillar (brāhmaṇas and brahman) and the social pillar (bandhu-saṅgha, the kin network). Purāṇic ethics treats deliberate family enmity as a destabilizing sin that spreads violence, litigation, and neglect of ancestral duties.
Purāṇas present narakas as real post-mortem realms administered under Yama, while also using vivid imagery (‘cooking/roasting’) to communicate the experiential consequence of cruelty, theft, and social-religious sabotage. The name itself is a pedagogical metaphor anchored to a cosmological geography of the afterlife.