Shloka 20
Jabali Bound by the Monkey — Jabali Bound by the Monkey: Nandayanti’s Ordeal and the Yamuna–Hiranyavati Sacred Corridor
गच्छन्ती सा च रुदती ददृशो वटपादपम् प्ररोहप्रावृततनुं जटाधरमिवेश्वरम्
gacchantī sā ca rudatī dadṛśo vaṭapādapam prarohaprāvṛtatanuṃ jaṭādharamiveśvaram
آگے بڑھتی اور روتی ہوئی اس نے وٹ کے درخت کو دیکھا؛ نوخیز کونپلوں سے ڈھکا ہوا تن، جٹادھاری پرمیشور کی مانند جلوہ گر تھا۔
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FAQs
The wording presents Vaṭapādapa as a divine locus: not merely a banyan, but a Lord identified through the banyan (a common Purāṇic device where a tree becomes the emblem of a resident deity or a self-manifest shrine). The description “like Īśvara bearing jaṭā” pushes the reading toward a theophany rather than botany alone.
Sprouts signify living, renewing nature and also the concealment/revelation motif: the deity is present yet veiled by the natural growth of the sacred tree. In tīrtha-māhātmya passages, such imagery sacralizes the landscape itself as the deity’s body.
Jaṭā is strongly Śaiva in iconography, but Purāṇic tīrtha narratives often blend markers to express unity of sectarian forms. Here it can indicate an ascetic, tapas-filled manifestation of the supreme at the banyan-tīrtha, without excluding a Śaiva identification.