Vamana Purana — Harihara Revelation, Shloka 9

Harihara Revelation and the Kurukshetra Tirtha Cycle: Sthanu in Vishnu and the Sanctification of Saptasarasvata

Devanagari script

विप्रोष्यं ब्रह्महरणं ब्राह्मणानां विनिन्दनम् विरोधं बन्धुभिश्चोक्तं नवमं नरपाचनम्

Transliteration

viproṣyaṃ brahmaharaṇaṃ brāhmaṇānāṃ vinindanam virodhaṃ bandhubhiścoktaṃ navamaṃ narapācanam

Translation

名为“Narapācana”的第九地狱，宣说为下列罪者所受：伤害婆罗门；夺取“brahman”/神圣知识（或劫掠婆罗门之吠陀财物与学识）；诋毁婆罗门；并在自家亲族间煽动仇怨。

Word by Word

• viproṣyam: desertion/going away (abandoning)
• viproṣyam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: viproṣya (कृदन्त; √vas/√uṣ with vi+pra? ‘to go abroad’; here adjectival/nominal)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; भाववाचक/कर्मवाचक-संज्ञा (act/state of going away/abandonment)

• brahma-haraṇam: stealing brahmin property / brahma-theft
• brahma-haraṇam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: brahman (प्रातिपदिक) + haraṇa (प्रातिपदिक; √hṛ हरति)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (ब्रह्मणः हरणम्)

• brāhmaṇānām: of brahmins
• brāhmaṇānām: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: brāhmaṇa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी (6th/षष्ठी), बहुवचन; सम्बन्ध (genitive)

• vinindanām: reviling, slandering
• vinindanām: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: vinindana (प्रातिपदिक; vi+√nind निन्दति)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• virodham: hostility, opposition
• virodham: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: virodha (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन

• bandhubhiḥ: with/by kinsmen
• bandhubhiḥ: Karaṇa (करण) / Sahakāraka (सह)
• Type: Noun
• Root: bandhu (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/तृतीया), बहुवचन; करण/सहकारक (instrumental/associative)

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; समुच्चयार्थक-निपातः

• uktam: is said
• uktam: Kriyā (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: ukta (कृदन्त; √vac वदति), कर्मणि भूतकृदन्त
• Form: भूतकृदन्त (क्त), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; कर्मणि—‘is said’

• navamam: ninth
• navamam: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: navama (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; क्रमवाचक-विशेषणम्

• nara-pācanam: ‘Narapācana’ (hell of cooking/tormenting men)
• nara-pācanam: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: nara (प्रातिपदिक) + pācana (प्रातिपदिक; √pac पचति)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुषः (नराणां पाचनम् = cooking/tormenting of men)

Speakers

• Unspecified in the provided excerpt (within a didactic narration enumerating pāpas and corresponding narakas)

Primary Deities

• Yama (implied as lord of naraka)

Key Themes

• Dharma (ethical restraint)
• Protection of brāhmaṇas and sacred learning
• Social harmony and kinship duties
• Karmic retribution (naraka)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What does ‘brahma-haraṇa’ mean here—stealing the Veda or stealing from brāhmaṇas?

In Purāṇic dharma lists, brahma-haraṇa commonly functions as a grave transgression involving ‘brahman’ as sacred capital: (a) theft of Vedic learning/appropriation of sacred knowledge without right, and/or (b) theft of property dedicated to Vedic rites or belonging to brāhmaṇas. The surrounding items (brāhmaṇa-harm and brāhmaṇa-slander) support the broader sense: violating the sanctity and support-system of Vedic culture.

Why is ‘hostility with kinsmen’ grouped with offenses against brāhmaṇas?

The verse clusters acts that rupture foundational supports of dharma: the ritual-intellectual pillar (brāhmaṇas and brahman) and the social pillar (bandhu-saṅgha, the kin network). Purāṇic ethics treats deliberate family enmity as a destabilizing sin that spreads violence, litigation, and neglect of ancestral duties.

Is Narapācana a literal place or a moral image?

Purāṇas present narakas as real post-mortem realms administered under Yama, while also using vivid imagery (‘cooking/roasting’) to communicate the experiential consequence of cruelty, theft, and social-religious sabotage. The name itself is a pedagogical metaphor anchored to a cosmological geography of the afterlife.