Shloka 3

Devanagari script

क्षत्रधर्मा वैश्यधर्मा नावृत्ति: पतते द्विज: । शूद्रधर्मा यदा तु स्थात्‌ तदा पतति वै द्विज:,शूद्रको तीनों वर्णोंका नित्य सेवक बताया जाता है। यदि ब्राह्मण जीविकाके अभावमें क्षत्रिय अथवा वैश्यके धर्मसे जीवन-निर्वाह करे तो वह पतित नहीं होता है; किंतु जब वह शूद्रके धर्मको अपनाता है, तब तत्काल पतित हो जाता है

Transliteration

kṣatradharmā vaiśyadharmā nāvṛttiḥ patate dvijaḥ | śūdradharmā yadā tu sthāt tadā patati vai dvijaḥ ||

Translation

Parāśara sprach: „Ein Zweimalgeborener fällt nicht, wenn er aus Mangel an Lebensunterhalt sich durch die Pflichten eines Kṣatriya oder Vaiśya erhält. Doch wenn er die dem Śūdra zugewiesene Lebensweise annimmt, dann fällt der Zweimalgeborene wahrlich sogleich.“

Word by Word

क्षत्रधर्मात्from the Kshatriya-duty/way of life

वैश्यधर्मात्from the Vaishya-duty/way of life

नnot

वृत्तिःlivelihood; means of subsistence

पततेfalls; becomes fallen

द्विजःa twice-born (Brahmin/Kshatriya/Vaishya)

शूद्रधर्मात्from the Shudra-duty/way of life

यदाwhen

तुbut; indeed

स्थात्should stand; should take up; should be

तदाthen

पततिfalls; becomes fallen

वैindeed; certainly

द्विजःa twice-born

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Parāśara

dvija

Kṣatriya

Vaiśya

Śūdra

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse distinguishes permissible and impermissible livelihood substitutions for a dvija: adopting Kṣatriya or Vaiśya duties for subsistence is not treated as a fall, but adopting śūdra-dharma (service as one’s defining livelihood) is declared to cause immediate degradation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Parāśara is instructing on varṇa-based duties and the ethics of livelihood (vṛtti), specifying how a dvija should respond to economic necessity without violating the boundaries of prescribed social conduct.