Vamana Purana — Nakshatra-Purusha Vrata, Shloka 23
The Nakshatra-Purusha Vrata: Worship of Vishnu’s Body as the Constellations
ततः प्रेताधिपतिना पृष्टः स तु वणिक्सखः कुत आगम्यते ब्रूहि क्व साधो वा गमिष्यसि
tataḥ pretādhipatinā pṛṣṭaḥ sa tu vaṇiksakhaḥ kuta āgamyate brūhi kva sādho vā gamiṣyasi
అప్పుడు ప్రేతాధిపతి ఆ వణిక్సఖుని అడిగాడు—“ఎక్కడి నుంచి వచ్చావు? చెప్పు. ఓ సద్గుణుడా, నీవు ఎక్కడికి వెళ్లబోతున్నావు?”
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "bhayanaka", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The term literally means ‘lord of the pretas (departed spirits)’. In Purāṇic narrative it often functions as a Yama-like authority who questions travelers or souls at a boundary-space. The verse itself does not name Yama explicitly, so the safest reading is a generic ruler of the departed.
‘Sādho’ can be both respectful address and moral descriptor. In such dialogues it signals that the speaker is eliciting truthful self-disclosure and frames the exchange as ethically charged rather than merely hostile.
Not directly. It sets up a travel-question (‘from where/where to’), which typically precedes disclosure of routes, forests, or tīrthas in subsequent verses, but no proper place-name appears here.