Vamana Purana — Manifestation of Katyayani, Shloka 22
The Manifestation of Katyayani (Durga) and the Humbling of the Vindhya by Agastya
नारद उवाच किर्मथमद्रिं भगवानगस्त्यस्तं निम्नशृङ्गं कृतवान् महर्षिः कस्मै कृते केन च कारणेन एतद् वदस्वामलसत्त्ववृत्ते
nārada uvāca kirmathamadriṃ bhagavānagastyastaṃ nimnaśṛṅgaṃ kṛtavān maharṣiḥ kasmai kṛte kena ca kāraṇena etad vadasvāmalasattvavṛtte
Nārada thưa: “Bằng cách nào bậc Thánh hiền Agastya, đấng đáng tôn kính, đã làm cho núi Kirmatha (tức Vindhya) trở nên thấp đỉnh? Vì ai, và do nguyên nhân nào, Ngài đã làm như vậy? Xin hãy nói cho tôi, hỡi bậc có hạnh nghiệp thanh tịnh không vết nhơ.”
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FAQs
The verse frames a classic Purāṇic ethic: when pride (here, a mountain’s hubris) disrupts ṛta (cosmic order), a realized sage acts selflessly to restore balance. Inquiry into ‘for whose sake’ highlights that true power is exercised for loka-saṅgraha (the welfare of the world), not for personal display.
Primarily within Vamśānucarita/Carita-type narration (accounts of sages and cosmic events) and indirectly Sarga-related cosmological maintenance: the sun’s ordained course is part of cosmic functioning, and the story explains its preservation.
Vindhya/Kirmatha symbolizes inflated ego that ‘rises’ beyond measure; Agastya symbolizes tapas and discernment that ‘lowers the peak’—bringing excess back into proportion so the divine order (e.g., the sun’s movement) proceeds unobstructed.