Shloka 3

Devanagari script

क्षत्रधर्मा वैश्यधर्मा नावृत्ति: पतते द्विज: । शूद्रधर्मा यदा तु स्थात्‌ तदा पतति वै द्विज:,शूद्रको तीनों वर्णोंका नित्य सेवक बताया जाता है। यदि ब्राह्मण जीविकाके अभावमें क्षत्रिय अथवा वैश्यके धर्मसे जीवन-निर्वाह करे तो वह पतित नहीं होता है; किंतु जब वह शूद्रके धर्मको अपनाता है, तब तत्काल पतित हो जाता है

Transliteration

kṣatradharmā vaiśyadharmā nāvṛttiḥ patate dvijaḥ | śūdradharmā yadā tu sthāt tadā patati vai dvijaḥ ||

Translation

Seorang dvija tidak jatuh derajatnya bila, karena ketiadaan nafkah, ia mencari penghidupan menurut dharma kṣatriya atau dharma vaiśya; tetapi bila ia menetap dengan mengambil dharma śūdra sebagai jalan hidupnya, maka dvija itu sungguh jatuh seketika.

Word by Word

क्षत्रधर्मात्from the Kshatriya-duty/way of life

वैश्यधर्मात्from the Vaishya-duty/way of life

नnot

वृत्तिःlivelihood; means of subsistence

पततेfalls; becomes fallen

द्विजःa twice-born (Brahmin/Kshatriya/Vaishya)

शूद्रधर्मात्from the Shudra-duty/way of life

यदाwhen

तुbut; indeed

स्थात्should stand; should take up; should be

तदाthen

पततिfalls; becomes fallen

वैindeed; certainly

द्विजःa twice-born

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Parāśara

dvija

Kṣatriya

Vaiśya

Śūdra

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse distinguishes permissible and impermissible livelihood substitutions for a dvija: adopting Kṣatriya or Vaiśya duties for subsistence is not treated as a fall, but adopting śūdra-dharma (service as one’s defining livelihood) is declared to cause immediate degradation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Parāśara is instructing on varṇa-based duties and the ethics of livelihood (vṛtti), specifying how a dvija should respond to economic necessity without violating the boundaries of prescribed social conduct.