Shloka 34
Adhyaya 28 — Alarka Inquires into Varna and Ashrama Dharma; Madalasa Defines the Fourfold Duties
यश्चोल्लङ्घ्य स्वकं धर्मं स्ववर्णाश्रमसंज्ञितम् । नरोऽन्यथा प्रवर्तेत स दण्ड्यो भूभृतो भवेत् ॥
yaś collaṅghya svakaṃ dharmaṃ svavarṇāśramasaṃjñitam | naro 'nyathā pravarteta sa daṇḍyo bhūbhṛto bhavet ||
And the man who, transgressing his own duty—defined by his varṇa and āśrama—acts otherwise, should be punishable; he becomes liable to the king’s chastisement.
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FAQs
Dharma is treated as publicly enforceable order: persistent deviation from one’s varṇāśrama-defined obligations is not merely personal fault but a civic breach warranting royal correction.
Normative political-ethical teaching (daṇḍa aligned to dharma), ancillary to pancalakṣaṇa narrative categories.
On an inner reading, ‘the king’s punishment’ can symbolize the inevitable corrective force of karma and conscience when one violates one’s true nature (svadharma).