Shloka 32
स्वाध्याय-योगोपदेशः तथा केशिध्वज-खाण्डिक्य-उपाख्यानम्
Yoga through Study and Restraint; The Keśidhvaja–Khāṇḍikya Narrative Frame
ततः सर्वं यथावृत्तं धर्मधेनुवधं द्विज कथयित्वा स पप्रच्छ प्रायश्चित्तं हि तद्गतम्
tataḥ sarvaṃ yathāvṛttaṃ dharmadhenuvadhaṃ dvija kathayitvā sa papraccha prāyaścittaṃ hi tadgatam
Then, O twice-born one, having narrated everything exactly as it had occurred—how the ‘cow of Dharma’ was slain—he asked about the expiation appropriate to that very deed.
Sage Parāśara (continuing the narration to Maitreya; the verse itself reports another character’s inquiry)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Sin, confession, and the ordained expiation for harming dharma symbolized as a cow
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Acknowledging wrongdoing and seeking scripturally grounded expiation is a dharmic response that purifies karmic consequence.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Own harms clearly, seek appropriate restitution/repair, and adopt disciplines that prevent repetition.
Vishishtadvaita: Moral purification is meaningful because the self is a real mode (prakāra) of Brahman; impurity and its remedy are not illusory but relational to Bhagavān’s order.
FAQs
It functions as a moral symbol: Dharma is portrayed as life-sustaining like a cow, so its ‘slaying’ signifies a collapse of righteousness and social-spiritual order, characteristic of Kali Yuga.
The verse shows the narrative pattern of Purāṇic ethics: after a truthful account of wrongdoing, the next dhārmic step is to seek the appropriate prāyaścitta—remedying the act through prescribed atonement rather than denying it.
In the Vishnu Purana, Dharma and its restoration ultimately stand under Vishnu’s supreme governance; the concern for expiation reflects the text’s view that moral order is real, consequential, and aligned with the divine ground of the cosmos.