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राम
Leela Scene

Vishnu Separates the Retinues

Bala Kanda, Doha 92

Doha 92 · Movement 2 of 2

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Vishnu surveys the radiant gods and the unimaginable company gathering around Shiva. With an affectionate smile, he calls the guardians of the directions near.

Each deity should travel separately with his own retinue. The order is tactful rather than severe, preserving celestial dignity while leaving Shiva's beloved attendants free to appear exactly as they are.

The divine procession divides into distinct streams. One carries jewels, banners, and formal splendour. Another is about to reveal the joyous terror of the cremation ground. Both streams move toward the same sacred marriage. Laughter joins the order.

At Vishnu's smiling word, heaven's bright ranks part from Shiva's gathering shadows.

Read the passage from the Manas
Smiling Vishnu addresses two representative directional guardians before their separate journeys.

AI-created devotional illustration · Doha 92

Vishnu smiling and giving directions before departure

Source reference and artistic choices

Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 108, 109 · printed pages 106, 107. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-093. Printed numbering may differ.

Source facts

  • Vishnu smiles and summons directional guardians, asking all to travel separately with own groups
  • Selected spoken counsel before departure; adjacent source retains affectionate joking satire about procession and potential ridicule

Artistic choices

  • Two representative unnamed directional guardians shown, rest outside crop; exact count of crop/ages/faces/crowns/robes/attentive poses imagined, no individual divine identification
  • Approved conventional blue crowned Vishnu identity with four arms, discus/conch and cream drape reused; front speaking palm and resting hand, terrace/bough/garden/distant structures imagined not prescribed by verse or authenticated geography
  • No actual departure/wedding, women-beholding-beauty foreign scene, or claim source excludes criticism

An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.

बिष्नु कहा अस बिहसि तब बोलि सकल दिसिराज। बिलग बिलग होइ चलहु सब निज निज सहित समाज।।92।।

Then Vishnu smiled and summoned all the guardians of the directions. "Walk separately, each with your own retinue," he said.