Varaha Purana 32.5: Adhyaya 32, Shloka 5
Dharma as the Bull-Form: Soma’s Transgression and the Institution of the Thirteenth Lunar Day Observance
षड्भेदो ब्राह्मणानां स त्रिधा क्षत्रे व्यवस्थितः । द्विधा वैश्येकधा शूद्रे स्थितः सर्वगतः प्रभुः । रसातलेषु सर्वेषु द्वीपवर्षे स्वयं प्रभुः ॥ ३२.६ ॥
ṣaḍbhedo brāhmaṇānāṁ sa tridhā kṣatre vyavasthitaḥ | dvidhā vaiśyekadhā śūdre sthitaḥ sarvagataḥ prabhuḥ | rasātaleṣu sarveṣu dvīpavarṣe svayaṁ prabhuḥ || 32.6 ||
ആ വ്യവസ്ഥ ബ്രാഹ്മണന്മാരിൽ ഷഡ്ഭേദമായി പറയപ്പെടുന്നു; ക്ഷത്രിയരിൽ ത്രിധാ; വൈശ്യരിൽ ദ്വിധാ; ശൂദ്രരിൽ ഏകധാ ആയി നിലകൊള്ളുന്നു. സർവ്വഗതനായ പ്രഭു എല്ലാ രസാതലങ്ങളിലും ദ്വീപ-വർഷങ്ങളിലും സ്വയം വിരാജിക്കുന്നു.
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FAQs
It reflects a Purāṇic-era tendency to systematize social categories (varṇa) alongside cosmographic claims, illustrating how normative discourse and cosmology are juxtaposed in Sanskrit compendia.
Dvīpa-varṣa refers to the Purāṇic scheme of island-continents and their regions (a cosmographic, not strictly cartographic, geography); rasātala denotes netherworld strata in that same model.
The verse presents a classificatory framework for social groupings while simultaneously emphasizing an all-pervading sovereign principle (prabhu) as present across all realms, suggesting a unifying metaphysical order beyond divisions.
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