Varaha Purana 3.19: Adhyaya 3, Shloka 19
Nārada’s Account of a Former Birth and a Hymn to Nārāyaṇa
Pūrva Bhāga · Cosmogony and Social-Order Origins (Varṇa-Genesis Motif)
ससर्ज यो वक्त्रत एव विप्रान् भुजान्तरे क्षत्रमथोरुयुग्मे । विशः पदाग्रेषु तथैव शूद्रान् नमामि तं विश्वतनुं पुराणम् ॥ ३.१९ ॥
sasarja yo vaktrata eva viprān bhujāntare kṣatram athoruyugme | viśaḥ padāgreṣu tathaiva śūdrān namāmi taṁ viśvatanuṁ purāṇam || 3.19 ||
sasarja yo vaktrata eva viprAn bhujAntare kShatramathoruyugme | vishaH padAgreShu tathaiva shUdrAn namAmi taM vishvatanuM purANam || 3.19 ||
यो वक्त्रत एव विप्रान्, भुजान्तरे क्षत्रं, ऊरुयुग्मे विशः, पदाग्रेषु शूद्रांश्च ससर्ज—तं विश्वतनुं पुराणं नमामि॥
Sandhi Notes
- वक्त्रत एव = वक्त्रतः एव
- भुजान्तरे = भुजा-अन्तरे
- अथोरुयुग्मे = अथ ऊरु-युग्मे
- पदाग्रेषु = पद-अग्रेषु
- तथैव = तथा एव
- विश्वतनुं = विश्व-तनुम्
Varāha
Human social functions are limbs of a single cosmic person; unity underlies differentiated roles.
Perform one’s duties without contempt for other roles; cultivate reverence for the whole social body as a manifestation of the divine.
Purusha-body cosmology: the deity as viśva-tanu (universal body) from whom social/ritual functions emanate—an extension of Vedic Puruṣa-sūkta logic into Purāṇic Vaiṣṇava theology.
Body-to-cosmos mapping (mouth/arms/thighs/feet) parallels yajña-body correspondences where cosmic order is sustained by properly placed functions and offerings.
Frames multiplicity (varṇa functions) as arising within the one cosmic self; invites a non-sectarian vision where all roles are limbs of the divine, while still preserving differentiated duties at the empirical level.
Society’s functional orders are presented as originating from the cosmic body, implying duties (svadharma) grounded in a sacred cosmology rather than mere convention.
Upholding svadharma supports social-ritual order and merit; violating it is traditionally framed as producing disorder and demerit (though the verse itself states origin, not penalties).
3.3.17 (tattva framing)
FAQs
It preserves a widely attested Purāṇic/Vedic motif that maps social categories (varṇas) onto a cosmic body, reflecting how early Sanskrit traditions linked cosmology, ritual order, and social taxonomy in textual memory.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the focus is cosmological and anthropogonic (origins of social categories) rather than sacred geography.
The verse functions primarily as a doxology (namāmi) and a cosmological classification statement; it does not present an explicit ethical injunction, but frames social roles as conceptually integrated within an ordered cosmic scheme.
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