Varaha Purana 158.3: Adhyaya 158, Shloka 3
The Manifestation and Sanctifying Power of the Mathurā Tīrtha
Uttara Bhāga · Mathurā Tīrtha-prādurbhāva (Global Sacred Topography Motif)
सप्तद्वीपेषु तीर्थानि पुण्यान्यायतनानि च ॥ मथुरायां गमिष्यन्ति प्रसुप्ते तु सदा मयि ॥
saptadvīpeṣu tīrthāni puṇyānyāyatanāni ca || mathurāyāṃ gamiṣyanti prasupte tu sadā mayi
saptadvIpeShu tIrthAni puNyAnyAyatanAni cha || mathurAyAM gamiShyanti prasupte tu sadA mayi
บรรดาท่าน้ำศักดิ์สิทธิ์และสถานศักดิ์สิทธิ์อันเป็นบุญในทวีปทั้งเจ็ด จะมารวมกันที่มถุรา เมื่อเราสถิตอยู่ที่นั่นเสมอในภาวะแห่งการพักสงบ
Sandhi Notes
- सप्तद्वीपेषु = सप्त + द्वीपेषु (द्विगु-समास)
- पुण्यान्यायतनानि = पुण्यानि + आयतनानि (i+a → yā)
- प्रसुप्ते मयि: सति-सप्तमी (locative absolute) sense ‘while I am asleep’
Varāha (continued from 158.1)
Divine immanence creates a spiritual center where dispersed merits concentrate.
Choose a principal kṣetra for sustained practice, trusting that sincere worship there can equal extensive pilgrimage.
The Lord’s ‘repose’ (prasupta) in Mathurā makes it a cosmic hub: sacredness is not merely geographic but ontological—tīrthas gravitate to divine presence.
All tīrthas as ‘limbs’ of a single cosmic yajña-field converging where the Yajña-Puruṣa rests; Mathurā as the vedi where merits aggregate.
Non-dual hint: multiplicity of sacred places resolves into unity in Bhagavat; the many become effective through the One.
Implicit: Mathurā/Vraja as the supreme tīrtha in Vaiṣṇava imagination, later centered on Kṛṣṇa.
158.1 (Mathurā as ‘my maṇḍala’); 158.4 (perpetual darśana after seeing Varāha)
FAQs
It expresses a Purāṇic ‘convergence’ motif, where dispersed sacred sites are rhetorically gathered into a central landscape, illuminating how texts build regional prestige through cosmological geography.
Mathurā is the explicit focal point; “seven continents” (saptadvīpa) belongs to Purāṇic cosmographical mapping rather than a single modern cartographic scheme.
The verse implicitly encourages valuing and safeguarding a central heritage landscape by presenting it as a locus of wider cultural-sacred networks.
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