Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 39

Portents at Bali’s Sacrifice and the Kośakāra’s Son: The Power of Past Karma

Devanagari script

एतस्मिन्नन्तरे प्राप्ता सूर्पाक्षी विप्रबालकम् अन्तर्धानगता भूमौ चिक्षेप गृहदूरतः

Transliteration

etasminnantare prāptā sūrpākṣī viprabālakam antardhānagatā bhūmau cikṣepa gṛhadūrataḥ

Translation

“Meanwhile, Sūrpākṣī arrived; having made herself invisible, she cast the young brāhmaṇa boy onto the ground, far from the house.”

Speakers

• Narrator describing Sūrpākṣī’s covert action against a brāhmaṇa child

Primary Deities

• Vishnu

Key Themes

• Threat to brāhmaṇas
• Invisibility/antardhāna as rākṣasa power
• Violation of domestic safety
• Protection of the vulnerable

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Who is Sūrpākṣī in Purāṇic storytelling terms?

She functions as a rākṣasī-type antagonist employing stealth (antardhāna) and violence against a vulnerable dhārmic figure (a brāhmaṇa child). Such figures often embody adharma’s covert, disruptive force.

Why is the victim specified as a ‘viprabālaka’?

Brāhmaṇas symbolize Vedic order, ritual continuity, and social dharma. Targeting a brāhmaṇa child heightens the moral gravity: it is an attack on innocence and on the carriers of sacred knowledge.

What is the narrative significance of throwing him ‘gṛhadūrataḥ’ (far from the house)?

The ‘house’ represents protected social space (gṛhastha order). Casting the child away from it signals rupture of safety and community oversight, a common Purāṇic marker of adharma intruding into domestic life.