Purpose: Pa-varga appears in the list of Saṁskṛta consonants. The consonants included in this group are pa, pha, ba, bha, ma. Occasionally, we come across the phrase apavargadā for Goddess, which means She Who bestows the ‘‘apavarga.’’ The purpose of this article is to discover the notion of apavarga.
‘‘Apavarga’’ derives from an acronym: Pavarga is actually an acronym! It can be expanded as follows:
pavarga = pa-pha-ba-bha-ma = pāpa-phala-bandhana-bhaya-mṛtyu,
i.e., sin-fruit (result)-fastening-fear-death, respectively. The meaning of apavarga means free from the elements present in pavarga; and hence, apavargadā means She Who bestows freedom from sin, fruit, fastening, fear, and death.
Examples: Some examples where this adjective is used are as follows:
svargāpavargadā śuddhā japāpuṣpanibhākṛtaḥ |[1]
svargāpavargade devi nārāyaṇi namo’stu te|[2]
In both the examples, apavarga has been joined (using sandhi rules) with svarga (or heaven), i.e., svarga + apavarga = svargāpavarga.
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References:
[1] Śrīlalitāsahasranāmastotram, Śloka 147, Stutimandal.
[2] Śrīdurgāsaptaśatī, Chapter 11, Śloka 8, Gitapress.
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