Varaha Purana 32.4: Adhyaya 32, Shloka 4
Dharma as the Bull-Form: Soma’s Transgression and the Institution of the Thirteenth Lunar Day Observance
Pūrva Bhāga · Dharma and Yuga Framework (Ethical-Cosmological Instruction)
इत्युक्तः समवस्थोऽसौ चतुःपद्भ्यां कृते युगे । त्रेतायां स समस्तृभ्यां द्वे चैव द्वापरेऽभवत् । कलावेकेन पादेन प्रजाः पालयते प्रभुः ॥ ३२.५ ॥
ityuktaḥ samavastho 'sau catuḥpadbhyāṃ kṛte yuge | tretāyāṃ sa samastribhyāṃ dve caiva dvāpare 'bhavat | kalau ekena pādena prajāḥ pālayate prabhuḥ || 32.5 ||
ityuktaH samavastho.asau chatuHpadbhyAM kRRite yuge | tretAyAM sa samastRRibhyAM dve chaiva dvApare.abhavat | kalAvekena pAdena prajAH pAlayate prabhuH || 32.5 ||
जब भगवान ने यह कहा, वो मान गया। कृत युग में वो चार पाँव से खड़ा था। त्रेता में तीन पाँव से। द्वापर में दो पाँव से। और कलि युग में अब सिर्फ़ एक पाँव से लोगों को संभालता है।
Sandhi Notes
- ityuktaḥ = iti + uktaḥ
- samavastho ’sau = samavasthaḥ + asau
- dvāpare ’bhavat = dvāpare + abhavat
- kalau ekena = kalau + ekena
Varāha
Dharma is historically variable in expression yet cosmically grounded; Kali requires deliberate protection of minimal sustaining virtues.
Emphasize truthfulness, non-violence, restraint, and just governance as ‘Kali-appropriate’ supports; build institutions that reduce harm and preserve learning.
The ‘pāda’ (quarter) model frames dharma as a cosmic support that contracts with time; Varāha’s teaching implicitly casts Viṣṇu as the sustaining axis when ritual-ethical completeness declines.
Pāda/quarter imagery resonates with Vedic ‘four-footed’ structures (e.g., ordered completeness), here applied to dharma’s stability across yugas rather than to anatomy.
Dharma’s decline marks increasing avidyā and rajas-tamas dominance; the Lord remains the inner regulator (antaryāmin) sustaining beings even when external order weakens.
Dharma (the sustaining order) diminishes by quarters across the yugas; governance must uphold what remains in Kali.
When rulers and people align with the remaining ‘one pāda’ of dharma in Kali, social stability and protection of prajās follow; neglect accelerates disorder and suffering.
Varāha Purāṇa yuga-dharma discussions in adjacent sections (32.32 context)
FAQs
It preserves a widely attested Purāṇic schema of progressive decline across the four yugas, using the metaphor of diminishing 'quarters' (pāda) to describe reduced completeness of an ideal order (often associated in related literature with dharma or social stability).
No geographic location is named in this verse; the content is cosmological-ethical, describing the yuga sequence rather than a tīrtha or region.
The verse foregrounds the idea that social order and moral completeness diminish over time, yet governance/protection of the people (prajā-pālana) remains a defining responsibility—framed here as upheld by the prabhu even under reduced conditions in Kali.
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