Vamana’s Birth during Bali’s Horse-Sacrifice and the Mapping of Vishnu’s Sacred Presences
विज्ञाय तत्राप्यरतिं स्नात्वार्ऽच्य पितृदेवताः प्रजग्मुः किरणां पुण्यां दिनेशकिरणच्युताम्
vijñāya tatrāpyaratiṃ snātvār'cya pitṛdevatāḥ prajagmuḥ kiraṇāṃ puṇyāṃ dineśakiraṇacyutām
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Purāṇic usage allows both. In a tīrtha itinerary, ‘arati’ can indicate that the sages did not find the intended sanctity, auspicious signs, or ritual suitability at that stop; it can also hint at discomfort or inauspiciousness prompting them to continue to the correctly ‘charged’ tīrtha.
Tīrthas are classic venues for śrāddha and pitṛ-tarpaṇa because water offerings are central to ancestral rites. The verse presents an orthodox sequence: snāna (purification) followed by arcana to both divine and ancestral recipients, integrating deva- and pitṛ-dharma.
It marks a solar-associated sacred site—either mythically ‘born from’ the Sun’s rays or ritually empowered by solar presence. Such phrasing is typical of Purāṇic sacral etymologies that explain why a location is puṇya and how its sanctity is anchored in a deity’s emanation.