Shloka 21

Vamana's Three Steps — Vamana’s Three Steps and the Binding of Bali

Devanagari script

कुक्षिभ्यामर्णवाः सप्त जठरे भुवनानि च वलिषु त्रिषु नद्यश्च यज्ञास्तु जठरे स्थिताः

Transliteration

kukṣibhyāmarṇavāḥ sapta jaṭhare bhuvanāni ca valiṣu triṣu nadyaśca yajñāstu jaṭhare sthitāḥ

Translation

اُس کے دونوں پہلوؤں سے سات سمندر ہیں؛ اور پیٹ میں تمام بھون (عالم) قائم ہیں۔ پیٹ کی تین تہوں میں ندیاں ہیں، اور یَجْن بھی پیٹ ہی میں مستقر ہیں۔

Speakers

• Not specified in the provided excerpt (likely a narrator/ṛṣi continuing the mapping).

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (implied cosmic person)

Key Themes

• Sapta-samudra cosmography
• Rivers as sacred arteries of the world
• Yajña as the sustaining ‘digestive fire’ of cosmos
• Geography-theology integration

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

Which ‘seven oceans’ are intended here?

Purāṇic cosmography commonly enumerates seven concentric oceans (often: salt, sugarcane-juice, wine, ghee, curd, milk, and fresh water). This verse references the standard ‘sapta-arṇava’ concept without listing names.

What are the ‘three folds’ (tri-vali) that contain the rivers?

‘Vali’ denotes abdominal folds/creases. The phrase poetically maps river-systems onto the body’s natural lines, presenting rivers as channels that course through and structure the world-body, reinforcing the Vāmana Purāṇa’s geography-forward sacralization of landscape.

Why are yajñas said to be ‘in the belly’?

The belly is the site of digestion and transformative fire; yajña is likewise a transformative rite that ‘digests’ offerings into divine nourishment. The mapping asserts that ritual is not external to the cosmos but an internal sustaining process of the cosmic person.