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
جو بلا کسی اضطرار کے اپنا سْوَدھرم چھوڑ کر پرَدھرم اختیار کرے، اسے اہلِ علم ‘پتِت’ (گرا ہوا) قرار دیتے ہیں۔
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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.