Vamana Purana — Andhaka's Defeat & Redemption, Shloka 64
Andhaka’s Defeat, the Bhairava Manifestation, and His Redemption as Bhṛṅgī Gaṇapati
त्वमादिरन्तो मध्यश्च त्वमनादिः सहस्रपात् विजयस्त्वं सहस्राक्षो विरूपाक्षो महाभुजः
tvamādiranto madhyaśca tvamanādiḥ sahasrapāt vijayastvaṃ sahasrākṣo virūpākṣo mahābhujaḥ
You are the beginning, the end, and the middle; and yet you are without beginning. You are the thousand-footed one; you are Victory; you are thousand-eyed; you are the many-formed-eyed one; you are the great-armed.
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FAQs
The hymn distinguishes two levels: as the cause and ground of the cosmos the Lord is ‘beginning’ relative to the manifested universe; in the absolute sense the Lord has no prior origin and is therefore ‘beginningless’.
These are cosmic epithets: ‘thousand-footed’ evokes the all-encompassing Puruṣa whose body is the universe; ‘thousand-eyed’ indicates omniscience and universal oversight (also echoing Indra’s epithet, now subsumed into the Supreme).
Primarily it is the abstract power of triumph—victory in dharma, battle, and spiritual striving. Purāṇic style often personifies such powers, but here it functions as an epithet asserting that all success and conquest ultimately rest in the Lord.