Vamana Purana — Shukra's Samjivani, Shloka 51

Shukra’s Saṃjīvanī, Shiva’s Containment of the Asuras, and Indra’s Recovery of Power

Devanagari script

हस्ती च कुण्डजठरं ह्लादो वीरं घटोदरम् एते हि बलिनां श्रेष्ठा दानवाः प्रमथास्तथा संयोधयन्ति देवर्षे दिव्याब्दानां शतनि षट्

Transliteration

hastī ca kuṇḍajaṭharaṃ hlādo vīraṃ ghaṭodaram ete hi balināṃ śreṣṭhā dānavāḥ pramathāstathā saṃyodhayanti devarṣe divyābdānāṃ śatani ṣaṭ

Translation

śakti: a spear/javelin weapon (often a heavy dart); saghaṇṭā: ‘with a bell attached’ (weapon ornament producing sound); kṛtaniḥsvanā: ‘making a loud sound/resonance’; gadā: mace/club; bhasmasāt: ‘to the state of ashes’, utterly destroyed; bibheda: ‘split, pierced, shattered’; hṛdaye: ‘in the heart’; surāri: ‘enemy of the gods’ (a Daitya/Asura); vigatāsura: ‘deprived of asuric power/force’ (or ‘asura-hood gone’); visaṃjña: unconscious/senseless; daitya-bala: the Daitya army/force; gaṇa: Śiva’s attendant hosts; Hari: Viṣṇu (honorific used here as divine ally/recipient of praise); Śatakratu: Indra (‘he of a hundred sacrifices’); Gotrabhit: Indra (‘splitter of mountains’); Śarva: Śiva (epithet meaning ‘the archer/destroyer’).

Speakers

• Narrator addressing a ‘devarṣi’ (divine seer) within the frame dialogue; exact names not provided in input.

Primary Deities

• Śiva (implied via Pramathas)

Key Themes

• Epic battle cataloguing
• Cosmic time-scale (divya-abda)
• Pramatha vs Dānava hostilities
• Hyperbolic duration of war

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "vira", "secondaryRasa": "adbhuta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

What is the significance of ‘six hundred celestial years’ in Purāṇic battle narration?

It signals a cosmic scale of conflict: battles among divine and demonic hosts are framed in divya-time (celestial years) to emphasize superhuman endurance and the world-order stakes, rather than human historical chronology.

Who are the Pramathas, and why are they paired with Dānavas here?

Pramathas are Śiva’s fierce gaṇas—often unruly, terrifying, and battle-ready. Dānavas are a major Asura lineage. The verse presents matched champions from both sides, a common Purāṇic technique to structure large battles into memorable duels.

Are names like Ghaṭodara and Kuṇḍajaṭhara symbolic or purely personal names?

Often both: they function as personal names while also conveying iconographic traits (‘pot-bellied’, ‘pit-bellied’), helping listeners visualize combatants in oral/recitational settings.