Vamana Purana — Portents at Bali's Sacrifice, Shloka 50

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

Devanagari script

ततो दशसु वर्षेषु समतीतेषु भार्गव तस्य मातागमत् कूपं तमन्धं शिलयाचितम्

Transliteration

tato daśasu varṣeṣu samatīteṣu bhārgava tasya mātāgamat kūpaṃ tamandhaṃ śilayācitam

Translation

Then, when ten years had passed, O Bhārgava, his mother came to the well—(finding) that blind one shut in/covered over with a stone.

Speakers

• Narrator addressing Bhārgava.

Key Themes

• Long duration of suffering (ten-year lapse)
• Maternal persistence
• Narrative pacing through temporal markers

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

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

FAQs

What is the narrative function of specifying “ten years”?

It intensifies the pathos and underscores endurance—both the victim’s prolonged confinement and the mother’s eventual return—while also marking a decisive turning point in the episode.

Why does the line repeat the earlier phrasing almost verbatim?

Purāṇic transmission often preserves formulaic repetition; it can also reflect variant recensional layering where a general ‘after some time’ line and a specific ‘after ten years’ line coexist.

Does this verse contribute to Vāmana Purāṇa’s tīrtha-geography emphasis?

Only minimally here: it mentions a generic well without naming a tīrtha. The geography-centric material typically appears with explicit toponyms (rivers/kshetras), which are absent in these lines.