“The great Vishnu,” exclaimed Vali. “Who is this great Vishnu? Is he superior to my valiant generals?”

Prahlada was devoted to Vishnu and he was therefore insulted at these insolent words of his grandson. “Cursed am I that my grandson should speak thus,” he said. “Because of your insolent words I curse you that you will lose your kingdom.”

Vali begged forgiveness and Prahlada pardoned him. But a curse once imposed, has to run its course. As compensation, Prahlada agreed to teach vali the principles of dharma.

Meanwhile, Kashyapa and Aditi had a son. He was born as a dwarf (vamana) and this was accordingly, the dwarf incarnation of Vishnu.

Vali had arranged for a yajna and the dwarf decided to pay a visit to the ceremony.

Vali saw ill omens everywhere. He therefore asked his guru Shukracharya for an explanation.

“Vishnu has been born as the dwarf son of Kashyapa and Aditi,” replied Shukracharya. “He is coming to attend your yajna. Be careful of what you promise to grant him. I fear that he will try to deprive you of your kingdom, so as to make the gods happy.”

“I will indeed be fortunate if the great Vishnu condescends to grace my ceremony,” said Vali. “How can I possible refuse him? I will give him whatever he wants.”

When the dwarf arrived, Vali offered to grant him whatever he wanted. The dwarf desired as much of land as could be covered in three of his footsteps. This boon Vali readily granted. But as soon as the boon was granted, the dwarf assumed a gigantic from. The form was so huge that the entire universe was covered in one of the giant’s footsteps. Vishnu returned heaven to Indra. There was nowhere left for Vali to live in and Vishnu instructed the demons that they should live in the underworld. But so struck was Vishnu by Vali’s generosity that he promised Vali that he would assume the title of Indra in future manvantara.

Tirthas

A tirtha is a sacred place of pilgrimage and there are several such tirthas. The Vamana Purana now describes several such tirthas.

For example, Kurukshetra is such a tirtha. Also sacred is the land of Brahmavarta, which lies between the two rivers Sarasvati and Drishadvati. In fact, there are seven rivers that flow through the land of Kurukshetra. Their names are Sarasvati, Vaitarani, Ganga, Mandakini, Madhusrava, Koushiki and Drishadvati. There are also seven forests in Kurukshetra. Their names are kamyaka, Aditi, Vyasa, Falaka, Surya, Madhu and Shita.

Vena

Manu had a son named Kshut. Kshut was a very good king. But his wife Bhaya had a father named Kala who was evil. Kshut and Bhaya’s son was Vena and Vena picked up evil ways from his maternal grandfather Kala.

(There is some inconsistency with the accounts elsewhere. For example, the Mahabharata, the Vishnu Purana and the Harivamsha, state that Vena was the son of the king of Anga and his wife Sunitha. The rest of the account is more or less the same.)

Vena was so evil that he criticised the Vedas. His father was so upset at Vena’s evil ways that he retired to the forest to perform tapasya as penance for having given birth to such an evil son. This merely provided Vena with the opportunity to become king and rule over the entire world. He promptly announced that all religious ceremonies should be stopped. There was no need to worship the gods. The person who was deserving of worship was Vena himself.

The sages were aghast at these proceedings. They came and tried to persuade the king to mend his evil ways. They tried to tell him that yajnas were necessary for the sake of dharma. But Vena would not listen. The sages therefore had no option but to chant incantations over some blades of grass and slay Vena with this sanctified grass.