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In the Srimad Bhagavatam, there's a description of the spouses and descendants of the Adityas, a group of 12 gods who are the sons of Aditi and the sage Kashyapa. The Adityas include Surya, Indra, Varuna, etc., but the youngest of the Adityas is Vamana, the dwarf incarnation of Vishnu, and this is what the Srimad Bhagavatam says about Vamana's family:

By His own potency, the Lord, who has multifarious potencies, appeared in the form of a dwarf as Urukrama, the twelfth son of Aditi. In the womb of His wife, whose name was Kīrti, He begot one son, named Bṛhatśloka, who had many sons, headed by Saubhaga.

My question, what is the story of these family members? Who is Kirti, and what is the story of how Vamana married her? And what's the story of Vamana's son and grandchildren? I wasn't aware that Vamana did anything else after he defeated Mahabali and restored the three worlds to Indra. (And I was under the impression that Vamana was an unmarried brahmachari when he encountered Mahabali.)

The only clue I have is the meaning of their names. Kirti means fame or glory, which might makes sense if she's an incarnation of Vishnu's wife Lakshmi, since fame can be connected to wealth and prosperity. Brihatshloka means "of great fame", so there's a pattern here at least. (I should note that Vishnu is often called Punyasloka, meaning "of holy fame", so it may be connected to that too.) Finally Saubhaga means good fortune.

So are there any other scriptures which discuss who these people were?

EDIT: I just found a passage in the Vishnu Purana which says this:

For in like manner as the lord of the world, the god of gods, Janárddana, descends amongst mankind (in various shapes), so does his coadjutrix Śrí. Thus when Hari was born as a dwarf, the son of Adití, Lakshmí appeared from a lotus (as Padmá, or Kamalá)

I assume this Padma or Kamala is the same as Kirti. So we at least know that Kirti was born from a lotus. But I still don't know how she came to marry Vamana.

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  • this link says his name is Brhatsloka. Commented Jul 1, 2014 at 18:56
  • @AnkitSharma That's just a transliteration issue, similar to how Krishna is often written as Krsna. The Sanskrit spelling of Vamana's son's name is Bṛhatśloka - the r with a dot under it is the Sanskrit vowel "ri". Commented Jul 1, 2014 at 19:06
  • at this link (which is not related to OFFICIAL scriptures, I agree), there is mention that Vamana is bachelor when he approached Mahabali, moralstories.wordpress.com/2006/05/31/bali-chakravartis-story Assuming this to be true, it seems he might have got married after those 3 steps incidence. Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 3:38
  • @AADTechnical Yeah, the Srimad Bhagavatam depicts him having the traditional apparel and equipment of a brahmachari: vedabase.com/en/sb/8/18 So you're right that it's probably after his encounter with Mahabali. Unfortunately, the last incident in Vamana's life that I'm familiar with is him giving the three words to Indra and the gods, so I'd like to know what happened to him after that. Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 4:04
  • @AADTechnical By the way, did you know that according to Gaudiya Vaishnavism (the sect ISKCON belongs to), Vishnu has had two other Vamana incarnations before the one we're talking about? See my question here: hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/7210/36 Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 4:16

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KĪrti devī is the basis and cause for all fame and reputation (Vana Parva ch.37, v.38). She is the Incarnation of Lady luck herself (Laksmi consort of Vishnu and she resides in the battle-conch of Kṛṣṇa). you will find a lot more from her name.

Vāmana vs MahaBali is the common cycle we know Vāmana vs Dhundhu is a bit different in another age (Padma Purāna ch.78) Both are in the Vāmana Purāna https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.313087/page/n42/mode/1up

Its best that Kṛṣṇa (and avatars) expel progeny (if too many) before they retire from physical presence, otherwise their power would cause strain on the Earth https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/11/30/25/

As for Saubhaga, you can read about his travels under "relevant text" https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/saubhaga

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