Varaha Purana 139.49: Adhyaya 139, Shloka 49
The Glory of Varāha’s Rite: Merits of Cow-dung Plastering, Sweeping, Singing, Instrumental Music, and Dance
with a Truth-Vow Exemplum
Uttara Bhāga · Dharma, Satya-vrata, and Narrative Ethics (Rākṣasa–Caṇḍāla episode)
अस्नातानां गतिं यास्ये यद्यहं नागमे पुनः ॥ गुरुपत्नीं राजपत्नीं योऽभिगच्छति मोहितः ॥
asnātānāṃ gatiṃ yāsye yady ahaṃ nāgame punaḥ || guru-patnīṃ rāja-patnīṃ yo 'bhigacchati mohitaḥ ||
asnAtAnAM gatiM yAsye yadyahaM nAgame punaH || gurupatnIM rAjapatnIM yo.abhigachChati mohitaH
मैं यह कहता हूँ, अगर मैं वापस नहीं आया तो मैं उसी जगह जाऊँगा जहाँ लोग बिना नहाए मर जाते हैं। जो इंसान अपने गुरु की पत्नी या राजा की पत्नी के पास जाता है, वो बड़ा बड़ा इंसान होता है।
Sandhi Notes
- यद्यहं = यदि + अहम्
- योऽभिगच्छति = यः + अभिगच्छति
Caṇḍāla / Śvapāka (inferred from adjacent verses; vow-formula narrative voice)
Vāk (speech) as karma: a spoken vow binds the agent; adharma is highlighted through paradigmatic prohibitions (guru-patnī, rāja-patnī).
Use truthful, accountable speech; avoid exploiting power-structured relationships; treat vows as binding commitments.
An oath-formula invokes the fate of grave sinners as a self-curse to guarantee one’s return; it condemns approaching the guru’s wife or the king’s wife as delusion-driven adharma.
Transgressing sexual boundaries tied to guru/king leads to severe sinful destinies; truthful fulfillment of one’s pledged return is reinforced by fear of such destinies.
Moral credibility and protection from the karmic fall associated with the invoked sins, contingent on keeping the vow.
Varāha Purāṇa 139 (oath-sequence continuing in 139.55–58)
FAQs
It preserves a narrative oath-pattern where a speaker stakes their moral credibility on accepting a negative afterlife if they break a promise—an attested rhetorical device in Sanskrit narrative and didactic literature.
No location is named in this verse.
The verse underscores the seriousness of truth-keeping and references socially defined transgressions involving protected relationships (teacher’s wife, king’s wife).
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