HV 87.1
यः सर्गजैः सुरगणप्रियकृद्भिर् उच्चैर् द्रव्यैः समुद्रनिहितैश् च समुद्रजातैः । हृद्याम् अकारयद् अशेषजगल् ललामां श्रीद्वारकां पुरवरीं तम् उपैमि विष्णुम् ॥
yaḥ sargajaiḥ suragaṇapriyakṛdbhir uccaiḥ dravyaiḥ samudranihitaiś ca samudrajātaiḥ | hṛdyām akārayad aśeṣajagal lalāmāṃ śrīdvārakāṃ puravarīṃ tam upaimi viṣṇum
To that Viṣṇu who had lovely Śrī-Dvārakā, the ornament of the whole world, made heart-ravishing — with high materials born of creation, beloved of the gods' hosts, deposited in the ocean and born of the ocean — to that Viṣṇu I come.
The Living Words
The verse is a full-meter benediction in śārdūlavikrīḍita, unusual in the middle of the Purāṇa. *Hṛdyām akārayat*, 'he had it made heart-ravishing': the causative is careful. Viṣṇu does not make the city himself; he has it made — by Viśvakarman, with contributions of the sea. *Aśeṣa-jagal-lalāma*, 'ornament of the whole world'. *Tam upaimi viṣṇum*, 'to that Viṣṇu I come': the devotee's opening movement.
The Heart of It
HV 87 opens not with Rukmiṇī or with Jarāsaṃdha but with a full stotra-meter hymn to Viṣṇu as the one who arranged for the building of Dvārakā. The choice of opening is theological: the god who is about to carry off a bride is first named as the god who built a city. Power and beloved-ness come from the same figure. Jñāneśvar's Haripāṭh habit of opening each abhaṅga with a frame that establishes Hari's supremacy before narrating an act is continuous with this structural choice. The narrator announces 'to that Viṣṇu I come' before he tells us what the Viṣṇu did.