Agni Purana — Avatara-lila, Shloka 11
Chapter 16 — बुद्धाद्यवतारकथनम्
Narration of Buddha and Other Incarnations
वर्नाश्रमाश् च धर्मेषु स्वेषु स्थास्यन्ति सत्तम एवं सर्वेषु कल्पेषु सर्वमन्वन्तरेषु च
varnāśramāś ca dharmeṣu sveṣu sthāsyanti sattama evaṃ sarveṣu kalpeṣu sarvamanvantareṣu ca
အကျင့်သီလကောင်းသူတို့အနက် အကောင်းဆုံးသောသူရေ၊ ဝဏ္ဏနှင့် အာရှရမတို့သည် မိမိတို့၏ သာသနာတရားအလုပ်တာဝန်များ၌ တည်မြဲနေမည်။ ဤသို့ပင် ကလ္ပအားလုံးနှင့် မနွန္တရအားလုံး၌ ဖြစ်သည်။
Lord Agni (in dialogue, traditionally narrating Purāṇic instruction to the sage Vasiṣṭha)
Vidya Category: {"primary_vidya":"Dharmashastra","secondary_vidya":"Cosmology","practical_application":"Guides social-ethical conduct by affirming varṇa-āśrama duties as a recurring cosmic norm across kalpas/manvantaras; used in dharma instruction and ritual/social role education.","sutra_style":true}
Encyclopedic Reference: {"reference_type":"Description","entry_title":"Permanence of Varṇa-Āśrama Dharma Across Kalpas and Manvantaras","lookup_keywords":["varṇāśrama","svadharma","kalpa","manvantara","social order"],"quick_summary":"Varṇa and āśrama are presented as stable frameworks of duty recurring in every cosmic cycle, emphasizing continuity of svadharma as a pillar of order."}
Concept: Svadharma as a sustaining principle of social and cosmic order, recurring through cyclical time.
Application: Perform one’s role-based duties with steadiness; use the varṇa-āśrama map to structure education, livelihood, and life-stages.
Khanda Section: Dharma & Varṇāśrama (Social-Religious Order across Kalpas and Manvantaras)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: dharmic (didactic)
Visual Art Cues: {"scene_description":"A schematic yet sacred depiction of the four varṇas and four āśramas arranged as an ordered mandala across repeating cosmic cycles labeled kalpa and manvantara.","kerala_mural_prompt":"Kerala mural style: mandala composition with four varṇas and four āśramas as seated archetypes around a central dharma-pillar; outer ring shows repeating kalpa/manvantara motifs like lotus-petals; bold outlines, earthy palette.","tanjore_prompt":"Tanjore painting: central golden dharma-stambha with embossed gold; surrounding panels show brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa; and four varṇa archetypes with attributes; temple-like framing.","mysore_prompt":"Mysore painting: instructional chart aesthetic—clean figures, labeled compartments for varṇa and āśrama, with a subtle cosmic background; delicate shading and ornate borders.","mughal_miniature_prompt":"Mughal miniature: courtly and hermitage scenes in quadrants—student with guru, householder charity, forest-dweller austerity, renunciate meditation; margins annotated with kalpa/manvantara continuity."}
Audio Atmosphere: {"recitation_mood":"instructional","suggested_raga":"Bhairav","pace":"medium","voice_tone":"instructional"}
Sandhi Resolution Notes: वर्नाश्रमाश् → वर्णाश्रमाः (visarga sandhi in recitation); सर्वमन्वन्तरेषु → सर्व-मन्वन्तरेषु.
Related Themes: Agni Purana 16 (yuga/avatāra context leading into dharma order); Agni Purana sections on dāna, vrata, śrāddha, and rājadharma (general internal thematic links)
FAQs
It conveys Dharma-vidyā: the technical principle that varṇa- and āśrama-based duties are enduring normative frameworks, recurring across cosmic cycles (kalpa and manvantara).
It links social-religious law (varṇāśrama-dharma) with Purāṇic cosmology (kalpa/manvantara), showing how the text integrates jurisprudence/ethics with cosmic time theory.
The verse implies that steadiness in one’s prescribed duty (svadharma) aligns conduct with cosmic order, supporting merit (puṇya) and stability of righteous living through all ages.