Vāmana Avatāra in the Vāmana Purāṇa

The Vāmana avatāra is the descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu as Vāmana, a dwarf brāhmaṇa boy, to take back the three worlds from the daitya emperor Bali. The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa tells this narrative twice. The Saro Māhātmya section (Chapters 2 to 10) tells it from Bali’s lineage to the founding of the Vishṇupadī tīrtha. The main part of the Purāṇa (Chapters 62 to 66) tells it from Bali’s Aśvamedha to Brahmā’s welcome of Vāmana. Both are given below, each under its own text.

Part one: the Saro Māhātmya account (Chapters 2 to 10)

Bali’s lineage and conquest (Chapters 2 and 3)

The Saro Māhātmya begins with Bali Cakravartī and his lineage: Hiraṇyakaśipu, then Prahlāda, then Virocana, then Bali. Bali was a ruler of great tejas (brilliance), courage and generosity. He was the senānāyaka (army leader) of all the daityas, and his people loved him. By his strength in battle and the puṇya (merit) of his line, Bali defeated the devas and drove them out of Svarga. The devas lost everything and wandered about in confusion.

Lakshmī herself left the devas and came into Bali’s keeping, drawn by his just rule and royal splendour. Bali took the throne of Indra and the work of all the dikpālas (guardians of the directions). Under his rule the three worlds showed the qualities of the Kṛtayuga, so good was his rule. This is told in Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2 and 3.

The devas go to Kaśyapa and Brahmā (Chapters 3 and 4)

The devas, led by Indra, first went to their father Kaśyapa Prajāpati and told him of their trouble. Kaśyapa sent them up to Brahmaloka. Brahmā received them kindly and told them to seek the grace of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, because only he had the power to restore order in the worlds. Brahmā himself prayed and guided the prayer of the devas.

Kaśyapa then performed long tapas (austerity) to please Bhagavān Vishṇu. He sang a great stotra that praised Vishṇu as Ekāśṛṅga (the single-horned one), as Varāha, and as the base of all worlds. Vishṇu was pleased. He gave Kaśyapa a vara (a boon): he would be born as the son of Kaśyapa and Aditi. This is told in Chapters 3 to 5.

Kaśyapa’s stotra to Vishṇu (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5 keeps the whole of Kaśyapa’s stotra to Vishṇu. Among the names it uses are Ekāśṛṅga (the single horn that carried the earth in the pralaya, the dissolution), Trivikrama (the three-strider), Hiraṇyanābha (golden-naveled), Śatānanda and Yajñapurusha.

Aditi’s tapas at Āditīvana in Kurukshetra (Chapter 6)

Aditi came to Āditīvana, the sacred forest within Kurukshetra that is named after her. She performed ten thousand years of severe tapas there to gain Bhagavān Vishṇu as her son. Chapter 13 of the Saro Māhātmya sends pilgrims to Āditīvana and says: “Here Aditi performed severe tapas and obtained Vāmana as her son. Bathing here grants a son of a hundred suns’ radiance.”

During her tapas Aditi made and sang a great stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu. She praised him as Ananta, Mukunda, Govinda and Jagannātha, the support of all beings. The text gives this stotra as the cause of Vishṇu’s consent to enter her womb. This is told in Chapter 6.

Vishṇu enters Aditi’s womb and the earth trembles (Chapter 7)

Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before Aditi in his four-armed form. With her consent he entered her womb. At that moment the whole cosmos felt it. The earth trembled, the oceans churned and the mountains shook. Throughout the three worlds the daityas felt their tejas grow weaker, a darkening inside them whose cause they could not at first name.

The weapons of the daityas became blunt. Their war elephants grew restless. Their flags fell and their ornaments lost their shine. Bad omens multiplied in Bali’s camp and kingdom. The devas, on the other hand, felt new strength and confidence. This is told in Chapter 7.

Prahlāda sees the truth and pronounces a śāpa on Bali (Chapter 8)

Bali saw the daityas lose their tejas. He went to his grandfather Prahlāda and asked why. Prahlāda was a great bhakta (devotee) of Vishṇu. He sat in deep meditation and saw Bhagavān Vishṇu living in Aditi’s womb. He understood at once what it meant. He was filled with spiritual joy, and he also understood that Bali’s rule was coming to its appointed end.

Prahlāda then pronounced a śāpa (a curse) on Bali. He did it not in anger but because he saw clearly that Bali’s days of ruling Svarga were over and that Bali had to give way so that order could be restored. Bali accepted this calmly, was sorry, and asked Prahlāda to forgive him. The text says that even Prahlāda, the greatest bhakta among the asuras, knew that the will of Vishṇu must win, and that Bali’s great puṇya would in the end be rewarded with the honour of the presence of Vishṇu himself at Sutala. This is told in Chapter 8.

Vāmana’s birth, the three paces and Trivikrama (Chapter 9)

Bhagavān Vāmana was born from Aditi in a radiant form. Brahmā himself performed the jātakarma (birth rite) and sang a great stotra in praise of the divine child. The ṛshis decked the child Vāmana with sacred signs. Vāmana then went to the place of Bali’s yajña and entered as a young brāhmaṇa student.

Bali saw the shining boy, knew he was no ordinary child, and asked him to name any gift. Vāmana asked for three paces of land, measured by his own feet. Before Bali could finish the gift, Śukrācārya warned him: “This is Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. Do not grant this.” Bali spoke of the honour of his line and said that no gift to Vishṇu could be wrong. He poured the water of the gift (dāna-jala) and completed his promise.

Vāmana then grew into the cosmic form of Trivikrama. With the first pace he measured the earth. With the second he measured Svarga and all the upper worlds. For the third pace Bali offered his own head. Bali was pressed down into Sutala under the foot of Bhagavān Vishṇu. This is told in Chapter 9.

Bali sent to Sutala and the Vishṇupadī tīrtha (Chapter 10)

Chapter 10 opens with a fresh warning from Śukrācārya to Bali before the three paces. This chapter keeps a longer form of Śukra’s reasoning. He told Bali that he would lose not only his kingdom but his very position. Bali refused with full clarity: “One who denies Bhagavān Vishṇu himself has already lost everything worth keeping.”

When the Viśvarūpa of Trivikrama was shown, the daitya general Cikshura (called Vikshura in some versions) attacked in a useless attempt to protect Bali. He was overpowered. Bali was then sent formally to Sutala with Vindhyāvalī and his followers. Bhagavān Vishṇu promised Bali that in the Sāvarṇi Manvantara, the eighth age of the cosmos, he would become Indra of the three worlds.

The chapter ends with the founding and māhātmya (greatness) of the Vishṇupadī tīrtha. This is the sacred place at Kurukshetra where the cosmic foot of Bhagavān Vishṇu touched the earth during the Trivikrama expansion. The phalaśruti (the statement of results) says that bathing at the Vishṇupadī tīrtha and doing pūjā to Vāmana-Trivikrama there frees a person from all pāpa (sin) and leads to Vishṇuloka.

Part two: the account in Chapters 62 to 66

Bali’s Aśvamedha at Kurukshetra (Chapter 62)

Prahlāda went away on his tīrtha yātrā (pilgrimage). Bali, the daitya emperor of the three worlds, then came to Kurukshetra to perform the great Aśvamedha yajña. Śukrācārya called the Bhārgava brāhmaṇas for the rite. The other brahmarshis (Ātreya, Gautama, Kauśika and Āṅgiras) fled in different directions rather than take part in a yajña led by asuras. The rite began with full ceremony. The sacrificial horse was sent out under the guard of the daitya hero Tārakāksha. Vindhyāvalī, Bali’s chief queen, took dīkshā (initiation for the rite) beside her husband. The fires of the yajña blazed with great power.

Vāmana’s birth and upanayana (Chapter 62)

At that same moment Aditi gave birth to Vāmana, Vishṇu in the form of a dwarf brāhmaṇa boy. At his birth the worlds were shaken. The earth trembled, mountains moved, oceans churned, and the yajña fires would not accept the oblations of the asuras. Brahmā and the brahmarshis came at once and sang stotras to the newborn child.

Brahmā asked that Vāmana receive the upanayana saṃskāra (the sacred thread rite). Bharadvāja of the Bṛhaspati gotra performed it. The ṛshis and kings who were present gave gifts:

Pulastya gave the white garment.
Agastya gave the kṛshṇājina (black deer skin).
Bharadvāja gave the mekhalā (sacred cord).
Marīci gave the pālāśa daṇḍa (staff of palāśa wood).
Vasishṭha gave the akshamālā (rosary).
Aṅgiras gave the kuśāsana (seat of kuśa grass).
King Raghu gave an umbrella (chattra).
King Nṛga gave sandals (pādukās).
Bṛhaspati gave the kamaṇḍalu (water pot).

Vāmana then studied the Sāmaveda with Bharadvāja in a single month. He said he wished to visit Bali’s yajña at Kurukshetra. Bharadvāja blessed him and went with him.

The teaching on the vibhūtis (Chapters 62 and 63)

Before he left, Vāmana told Bharadvāja about his many vibhūtis (manifestations) in sacred places across the cosmos. These were rivers, mountains, cities, dvīpas, and the seven upper and seven lower worlds. Chapters 62 and 63 give a long list of these vibhūti-sthānas (places of manifestation). Vishṇu is shown present in every sacred place of the known world, and each place holds a particular form or name of Bhagavān Vishṇu. So a pilgrimage to any tīrtha is a visit to one of the homes of Vishṇu himself.

The three paces: the gift and the expansion (Chapter 65)

Vāmana came to Bali’s Aśvamedha. Bali welcomed him with great respect, offered arghya (water of welcome) and asked what he wished. Śukrācārya had warned Bali not to give anything to the visiting brāhmaṇa, since he knew who he was. But Bali was by nature a great giver (dātā) and could not refuse even a brāhmaṇa guest.

Vāmana laughed and said he needed only three paces of earth, the measure of his own body. Bali was charmed by the small boy’s seeming humility and teased him gently. He said that so great a giver should be asked for something that fits his rank, such as elephants, horses, land or kingdoms, and not for three paces. But Vāmana held to his request. Bali took the water vessel and made the gift, pouring out the water of dāna.

The moment the water of the gift fell into Vāmana’s hands, he took the cosmic form of Trivikrama and grew to fill all three worlds. His feet held the earth, his thighs the space between, his body the upper worlds, and his arms the ten directions. All the devas, all the rivers, all the mountains and all creatures lived in his limbs. The Purāṇa describes this Viśvarūpa in great detail, telling where each deva and each cosmic principle stood in the cosmic body of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

With one step he covered the earth. With the second step he covered the upper worlds. There was no place left for the third.

Bāṇa’s challenge (Chapter 65)

Vāmana, in his cosmic form, said there was no place for the third step and that Bali must be bound to pay the debt he had agreed to. Bāṇa, Bali’s son, then spoke, with wit and with argument. He asked Vāmana: had not Vishṇu himself made the earth? And if the whole creation fitted into two steps, was that not a failure of the creation itself? How could Bali be blamed for the shortfall of Vishṇu’s own creation?

Vāmana answered with calm dignity. He had asked for three paces measured by his own body, and his body is the cosmos. Bali had given three cosmic paces without any limit. The terms of the gift were met exactly. Also, by this gift Bali had earned a lifespan (āyuh) that would never end: he would live for a full kalpa. And in the next manvantara, the Sāvarṇi manvantara, Bali would himself become Indra.

Bali bound and sent to Sutala (Chapter 65)

Vāmana set the third step on Bali’s head and sent him to Sutala, the beautiful world below. This was presented as a vara, not a punishment. Sutala was a place of great beauty and plenty, free of disease and suffering. Bali would rule there with Vindhyāvalī at his side, in the company of the divine prosperity that Bhagavān Vishṇu gave him.

Vishṇu gave the devas their shares of the yajña (yajña-bhāgas) again and gave Indra back his Trivishṭapa. Then, as the devas watched, he vanished. He went to the abode of Brahmā.

What followed in Chapter 65

The daitya Maya built the triple city of Tripura, made of gold, silver and iron, and settled there with Tārakāksha.
Bāṇa made his home at Śoṇitapura on earth and ruled as a daitya king.
The daitya Śālva built the city of Saubha, which moves in the sky.

Brahmā’s welcome and pūjā (Chapter 66)

Bhagavān Vishṇu went to the abode of Brahmā. At Brahmā’s request he showed him the cosmic Trivikrama form in small size. Brahmā sang a long stotra. Then, at Brahmā’s prayer, Vāmana agreed to stay in Brahmā’s abode in the Vāmana form, to receive pūjā there for all time. Indra also did his own pūjā to Bhagavān Vishṇu.

Other parts of the Purāṇa that touch this narrative

The prior Trivikrama with Dhundhu is told in Chapter 52. Chapter 64 holds the upākhyāna (side narrative) of Niśākara, which Bali tells Śukrācārya to show why a true giver cannot hold back a gift even from an undeserving receiver. In the Purāṇa, Bāṇa defends his father with argument, and Bali is promised that he will be Indra in the Sāvarṇi manvantara. Bali is shown as a giver of unmatched nature, who cannot refuse even when he knows that the one asking is Vishṇu come to take everything.

Sources

Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2 to 3 (Bali’s lineage and conquest)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 3 to 5 (the devas, Kaśyapa and Brahmā; Kaśyapa’s tapas)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 5 (Kaśyapa’s stotra)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 6 (Aditi’s tapas at Āditīvana)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 7 (Vishṇu enters Aditi’s womb)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 8 (Prahlāda and Bali)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 9 (Vāmana’s birth and the three paces)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 10 (Bali sent to Sutala; the Vishṇupadī tīrtha)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 13 (the pilgrimage verse on Āditīvana)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 52 (the prior Trivikrama with Dhundhu)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 62 (Bali’s Aśvamedha; Vāmana’s birth and upanayana)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 62 to 63 (the vibhūti teaching)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 64 (the upākhyāna of Niśākara)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 65 (the three paces, Bāṇa’s challenge, Sutala, Maya, Bāṇa and Śālva)
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 66 (Brahmā’s welcome and stotra)

Vāmana Avatāra (Vāmana Purāṇa)