Varaha Purana 56.3: Adhyaya 56, Shloka 3
Ritual Procedure for the Dhanyavrata
Prosperity Vow
वैश्वानराय पादौ तु अग्नयेत्युदरं तथा । हविर्भुञ्जाय च उरो द्रविणोदेति वै भुजौ ॥ ५६.३ ॥
vaiśvānarāya pādau tu agnayety udaraṃ tathā | havirbhuñjāya ca uro draviṇodeti vai bhujau || 56.3 ||
เท้าทั้งสองเป็นของไวศวานระ; ส่วนท้องเรียกว่า ‘อัคนี’ อกเรียกว่า ‘หวิรภุญช์’ และแขนทั้งสองเรียกว่า ‘ทรวิโณเทติ’
Varāha (default, per dialogue framework)
How are Vedic fire-epithets mapped onto the deity’s limbs in this worship, and what is their ritual meaning?
curious; contemplative about mantra-body correspondences
Indirect: limb-nyāsa style devotion later common in Vaiṣṇava practice; no explicit Kṛṣṇa/Mathurā reference.
Perform limb-wise identification/nyāsa: feet as Vaiśvānara, belly as Agni, chest as Havirbhuñj, arms as Draviṇodeti.
Correct nyāsa/identification sacralizes the body of the worshipped deity (and implicitly the worshipper’s cognition), strengthening the rite’s fruit; errors weaken ritual coherence.
Auspiciousness/fortune through properly embodied worship integrating Agni-forms with Viṣṇu devotion.
Yajña-Varāha/Vaiṣṇava body-as-altar: Agni’s Vedic forms are installed on divine limbs, making the deity the living yajña and aligning ritual fire with cosmic personhood.
Feet=Vaiśvānara (universal fire sustaining beings); belly=Agni (digestive/transformative fire); chest=Havirbhuñj (consumer of oblations); arms=Draviṇodeti (bestower/raiser of wealth through sacrifice).
Microcosm-macrocosm mapping: the same transformative principle (agni) operates as digestion, sacrifice, and cosmic order; devotion recognizes the One appearing as many ritual functions.
Divinity is approached through structured correspondences: names/functions of Agni are contemplated as limbs, integrating ritual knowledge with devotional visualization.
During pūjā, mentally place/recite these epithets while touching or offering to the corresponding limbs of the deity (or in internal visualization), maintaining focused attention.
Varāha Purāṇa: continuation with head epithets in 56.56.4
FAQs
It preserves a Purāṇic method of mapping Vedic divine epithets (e.g., Vaiśvānara, Agni) onto bodily regions, reflecting continuity with earlier Vedic ritual and cosmological vocabulary.
No geographic site is named in this verse; it is primarily a ritual-cosmological and lexical mapping of terms to body-parts.
Rather than an explicit moral directive, the verse communicates a philosophical instruction of seeing the human body as integrated with cosmic/ritual principles, encouraging a disciplined, systems-oriented view of self and cosmos.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Varaha Purana in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
