Vamana Purana — Skanda Slays Taraka & Mahisha, Shloka 44
Skanda’s Svastyayana and the Slaying of Taraka and Mahisha
धरण्यां विवृतं गर्तं स मामन्वपतद् बली तद्भयात् संपरित्यज्य हिरण्यपुरमात्मनः
dharaṇyāṃ vivṛtaṃ gartaṃ sa māmanvapatad balī tadbhayāt saṃparityajya hiraṇyapuramātmanaḥ
大地上有一处敞开的深坑；婆利（Bali）追逐我进入其中。因惧怕他，我彻底舍弃了希兰尼亚城（Hiraṇyapura）——我自己的都城。
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FAQs
The name “Bali” strongly evokes Mahābali, but Puranic texts can use “Bali” as a proper name across cycles or as an epithet meaning “the mighty.” Given the Vāmana Purāṇa’s broader Bali traditions, identification with Mahābali is plausible, yet the excerpt alone cannot prove it.
Hiraṇyapura is typically an Asura stronghold—often imagined as a fortified, splendid ‘golden city.’ In some traditions it is associated with Daitya/Dānava realms (sometimes aerial/subterranean), functioning as a political-geographic marker of Asura power.
Such features often serve as narrative thresholds—openings, hiding places, or passages—linking surface earth to concealed spaces. Here it intensifies the chase scene and signals a sudden, dangerous change in terrain.