Varaha Purana 21.23: Adhyaya 21, Shloka 23
The Disruption of Dakṣa’s Sacrifice, the Hari-Hara Conflict, and the Establishment of Rudra’s Sacrificial Share
दशवर्षसहस्राणि तपश्चीर्त्वा महज्जले । प्रतिबुद्धो यदा रुद्रस्तदा चोर्वीं सकाननाम् । दृष्ट्वा सस्यवतीं रम्यां मनुष्यपशुसंकुलाम् ॥ २१.२४ ॥
daśavarṣasahasrāṇi tapaś cīrtvā mahajjale | pratibuddho yadā rudras tadā corvīṁ sakānanām | dṛṣṭvā sasyavatīṁ ramyāṁ manuṣyapaśusaṅkulām || 21.24 ||
ครั้นรุดรบำเพ็ญตบะในมหานทีเป็นเวลาหนึ่งหมื่นปี เมื่อทรงตื่นขึ้นแล้ว ก็ทอดพระเนตรแผ่นดินพร้อมพงไพร อุดมด้วยพืชผล งดงาม และแน่นด้วยมนุษย์กับสัตว์
Varāha (default speaker per dialogue framework; explicit speaker not stated in excerpt)
What did Rudra perceive upon awakening from long tapas, and what was the condition of the Earth then?
observant; the Earth is described as fertile and inhabited (implicitly ‘seen’ as a living sacred field)
Long tapas in the undifferentiated waters precedes awakened perception of a differentiated, life-filled world.
Sustained discipline (tapas) clarifies vision: one ‘awakens’ to the world’s interdependence—humans, animals, forests, and food systems.
Varāha Purāṇa 21.21.25–26 (hearing yajña-sounds; anger response)
FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic narrative style that links cosmic time (long austerities in primordial waters) with the reappearance of an inhabited, cultivated earth, offering a literary witness to early South Asian ideas of world-renewal and environmental abundance.
No specific toponym is named; the verse describes the earth (urvī) in general, characterized by forests and cultivation rather than a single identifiable site.
Implicitly, the verse values a world where forests, agriculture, humans, and animals coexist—supporting an ecological reading that emphasizes stewardship of a fertile, inhabited landscape.
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