Abhanga 3093
The Lord keeps his feet at Bali's door as promised, but grows so large that he breaks open a doorway to step out, and that opening gives the city of Dvārakā its name.
The verse
दुर्वासें निरोप आणिला ये रिती । मग वाढलेती नारायणा ॥१॥
ठेविलें चरण बळिचिये द्वारीं । शीर अंगावरी लांबविलें ॥ध्रु.॥
पाडियेलें द्वार द्वारावतियेसी । वरि हृषीकेशी निघालेती ॥२॥
तेथूनियां नाम पडिलें द्वारका । वैकुंठनायका तुका म्हणे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Durvāse nirōpa āṇilā ye rīti — Durvāsa brought the nirōpa in this rīti; maga vāḍhaletī Nārāyaṇā — then Nārāyaṇa vāḍhaletī (grew, expanded). Ṭhevile charaṇa Baḷichiye dvārīm — placed (his) feet at Bali's door; śīra angāvarī lāmbavile — stretched (his) head far over (the body) above. Pāḍiyele dvāra dvāravatiyesī — broke the dvāra of Dvāravatī; vari Hrṣīkeśī nighāletī — Hrṣīkeśī came out (from there). Tethūnīyām nāma paḍile Dvārakā — from there, the Name Dvārakā fell; Vaikuṇṭha-nāyakā Tukā mhaṇe — on Vaikuṇṭha-nāyaka, Tukā says.
What it means
The 6th-of-7 Durvāsa-Bali narrative text — contains a precious etymology of DVĀRAKĀ.
The resolution-narrative: Durvāsa brought the nirōpa (Lord-still-couldn't-leave-by-Bali's-refusal); Nārāyaṇa-expanded (vāḍhaletī); his feet-stayed at-Bali's-door (he kept-his-promise); but-his-body-grew-up-and-out (head-stretched far); broke-the-dvāra (opening) of Dvāravatī (the-supreme-city); Hrṣīkeśī-emerged-out-of-this-opening.
Etymology: Dvārakā (the-city) is-named-from-this-dvāra (door, opening) by-which-Hari-broke-out while-keeping-feet-at-Bali's-door.
This is one-of-the-precious-place-name-etymologies in-the-Tukārām-corpus. Compare-3094 which-gives-the-etymology-of-Murārī.
For someone today
Tukārām's etymology of Dvārakā. Durvāsa brought the permission in this manner; then Nārāyaṇa expanded. He kept his feet planted at Bali's door — but stretched his head and body far out above. He broke open the door of Dvāravatī; from there Hrṣīkeśī emerged. From that very opening the name Dvārakā fell upon the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha. The verse offers a devotional origin-story for the name Dvārakā: it is the city named for the door that Hari broke open while still keeping his feet at Bali's threshold.
मराठी: तुकारामांची ही द्वारकेच्या व्युत्पत्तीची कथा आहे. दुर्वासांनी अशा प्रकारे परवानगी आणली; मग नारायण वाढू लागला. त्याने आपले पाय बळीच्या दारातच ठेवले — पण डोके आणि शरीर वर दूरवर पसरवले. त्याने द्वारावतीचे द्वार फोडले; तिथून हृषीकेशी बाहेर आले. त्याच द्वारावरूनच वैकुंठनायकाला द्वारका हे नाव पडले. हा अभंग द्वारका या नावाच्या भक्तिपूर्ण उगमकथेला मान्यता देतो: बळीच्या उंबरठ्यावर पाय ठेवूनच हरीने जे द्वार फोडले, त्यावरून या नगराला नाव मिळाले.
Where this applies
- MAJOR cultural-text — etymology of DVĀRAKĀ
- 6th-of-7 Durvāsa-Bali narrative cluster
- Place-name-etymology genre in Tukārām corpus
- Companion to 3094 (Murārī-etymology)