Varaha Purana 68.14: Adhyaya 68, Shloka 14
Dharma Across the Four Yugas, the Disruption of Social Conduct, and Ritual Purification from Varṇa-Mixing Transgressions
Pūrva Bhāga · Dharma-śāstraic Ethics (Social Conduct and Protected Relations)
माता मातृर्ऋष्वसा श्वश्रूर्भातृपत्नी च पार्थिव । स्नुषा च दुहिता चैव मित्रपत्नी स्वगोत्रजा ॥ ६८.१४ ॥
mātā mātṛṣvasā śvaśrūr bhātṛpatnī ca pārthiva | snuṣā ca duhitā caiva mitrapatnī svagotrājā || 68.14 ||
mAtA mAtRRiShvasA shvashrUrbhAtRRipatnI cha pArthiva | snuShA cha duhitA chaiva mitrapatnI svagotrajA || 68.14 ||
राजा, यह सब औरतें गलत हैं, माँ, मौसी, सास, भाई की बीवी। बहू, बेटी, दोस्त की बीवी, और अपने ही खानदान की औरत।
Sandhi Notes
- mātṛṣvasā = mātṛ + svasā (ṣaṣṭhī-tatpuruṣa with internal sandhi)
- śvaśrūr = śvaśrūḥ (visarga before r)
- svagotrājā = svagotrā + jā (vowel sandhi)
Varāha
Dharma protects familial and social trust by marking certain relationships as inviolable; ‘gotra’ functions as a ritual-kinship boundary.
Treat kinship and gotra relations as strict prohibitions; maintain social trust and ritual order by avoiding any ambiguity in such relations.
Enumerates close-kin and socially protected relations (mother, maternal aunt, mother-in-law, brother’s wife, daughter-in-law, daughter, friend’s wife, same-gotra woman) as ‘agamyā’—forbidden sexual partners.
Violation is treated as grave pāpa (often classed among major sexual transgressions in śāstric traditions), leading to severe demerit and necessitating heavy expiation in the broader discourse.
68.68.15 (adds royal wife/daughter and other categories; states pāpa result)
FAQs
It preserves a dharma-oriented catalog of close familial and social relations, reflecting how Purāṇic literature systematized norms of conduct using kinship terminology shared with Dharmaśāstra traditions.
No geographic location is named in this verse; it is a normative list of relations rather than a site-description passage.
The verse enumerates categories of women defined by family, affinity, friendship, and lineage—typically used in dharma contexts to mark relations requiring heightened respect and restraint in social conduct.
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