Shloka 33
Dietary Rules & Purification — Dietary Rules, Purification (Śauca), and the Duties of the Householder and Forest-Dweller
स्वघर्मं यः सुत्सृज्य परधर्मं समाश्रयेत् अनापदि स विद्वद्भिः पतितः परिकीर्त्यते
svagharmaṃ yaḥ sutsṛjya paradharmaṃ samāśrayet anāpadi sa vidvadbhiḥ patitaḥ parikīrtyate
स्वधर्मं यः सुत्सृज्य परधर्मं समाश्रयेत्, अनापदि; स विद्वद्भिः पतितः परिकीर्त्यते।
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FAQs
The verse prioritizes svadharma as the stable axis of ethical life. Adopting paradharma is censured when done without genuine necessity (anāpadi), implying that moral action is context-sensitive: duty is not merely ‘what is good in general’ but what is rightly enjoined for one’s station and situation.
This passage is best classified under dharma-śikṣā within ancillary instruction rather than the five primary purāṇic marks; it aligns most closely with normative teaching often embedded within Vamśānucarita-era discourse (didactic sections accompanying genealogical/narrative frames), though it is not itself sarga/pratisarga.
Symbolically, svadharma represents alignment with one’s ordained nature and responsibilities; paradharma without need represents imitation, instability, or ego-driven role-switching. The ‘fall’ (patana) is thus a loss of inner order and social-sacral coherence.