Vamana Purana — Prahlada's Pilgrimage, Shloka 16
Prahlada’s Pilgrimage and the Origin of the Sudarshana–Trishula Exchange (Jalodbhava Episode)
पार्श्वे भाद्रपदायुग्मे पूजयित्वा विधानतः गुडं सलेहकं दद्याद् दोहदे देवकीर्तितम्
pārśve bhādrapadāyugme pūjayitvā vidhānataḥ guḍaṃ salehakaṃ dadyād dohade devakīrtitam
[{"question": "Why does the text emphasize “thousands of tīrthas” but then single out “thirty sin-destroying” ones?", "answer": "Purāṇic tīrtha-geography often uses a two-tier structure: a vast sacred field (many tīrthas) and a curated subset with special efficacy (pāpa-hara). The “thirty” functions as an authoritative shortlist for ritual practice and remembrance."}, {"question": "Are Tomtyā, Kāñcanākṣī, and Gurudā rivers, ponds, or shrines?", "answer": "The verse gives them as tīrtha-names without specifying the physical type. In Purāṇic usage, a tīrtha-name can denote a bathing ghat on a river, a pond/kuṇḍa, a confluence, or a shrine-centered water spot; the key point is their recognized ritual efficacy within the Naimiṣa landscape."}, {"question": "What does “madhyataḥ” contribute to the geography?", "answer": "It locates these named tīrthas as being ‘among/in the midst’ of the larger tīrtha-field, implying an internal spatial organization of Naimiṣa rather than isolated sites—useful for reconstructing a pilgrimage circuit."}]
{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
It refers to the two consecutive lunar mansions Pūrvabhādrapadā and Uttarabhādrapadā. The verse treats them as a combined ritual window (yugma) for a single prescription.
Sweet offerings are common in vrata contexts as symbols of auspiciousness, nourishment, and devotional ‘pleasing’ (prīṇana). Here they function as the dohada—an offering specifically matched to the Bhādrapadā period.
In Purāṇic idiom, ‘devakīrtita’ signals that the prescription is not merely customary but is presented as divinely sanctioned—either spoken by a deity in the narrative frame or validated as authoritative tradition.