Varaha Purana 133.2: Adhyaya 133, Shloka 2
Expiations for ritual-time impurity and the offense of defecation/urination in a sacred context
Uttara Bhāga · Karmic Consequences (Animal Rebirth Durations)
मक्षिका पञ्च वर्षाणि त्रीणि वर्षाणि मूषकः ॥ श्वा चैव त्रीणि वर्षाणि कूर्मो वै जायते नव ॥
makṣikā pañca varṣāṇi trīṇi varṣāṇi mūṣakaḥ | śvā caiva trīṇi varṣāṇi kūrmo vai jāyate nava ||
makShikA pa~ncha varShANi trINi varShANi mUShakaH || shvA chaiva trINi varShANi kUrmo vai jAyate nava
(Dia) menjadi lalat selama lima tahun; menjadi tikus selama tiga tahun; menjadi anjing selama tiga tahun; dan sesungguhnya lahir sebagai kura-kura selama sembilan tahun.
Sandhi Notes
- चैव = च एव
Varāha (contextual continuation)
Attentive; sobered by consequences
How do particular faults translate into specific minor/lowly births and their durations?
Karma can contract consciousness into smaller, more constrained life-forms; duration emphasizes the ‘time-cost’ of vice.
Avoid cruelty, impurity, and heedlessness; adopt prāyaścitta and disciplined conduct to arrest karmic decline.
Continuation of Varāha’s instruction to Bhū-devī via further rebirth-duration catalogue.
Karmic demerit can mature into lowly embodiments (fly, mouse, dog, tortoise) for stated periods, underscoring the degradative trajectory of adharma.
Adharma yields constrained, suffering-prone births; dharmic correction and expiation prevent descent into such yonis.
Varāha Purāṇa ch.133 (continuation of karmic rebirth lists alongside prāyaścitta material)
FAQs
It exemplifies a mnemonic list-format used in Purāṇic moral instruction, where consequence is communicated through recognizable life-forms and durations.
No geographic reference appears in this verse.
Conduct is portrayed as consequential across lifetimes, encouraging ethical restraint through the logic of moral causality.
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