Dharma in the Agni Purāṇa

Dharma, “that which upholds”

Dharma has other meanings too: see all meanings of Dharma.

The Agni Purāṇa, told by Agni Deva to Vasishṭha Maharshi, teaches dharma in many places. In the teaching of Pushkara to Paraśurāma it shows dharma as the one companion who goes with the jīva after death, and gives its ten marks: steadiness, patience, control of the mind and the senses, not stealing, modesty, knowledge, truth and freedom from anger. It names the kinds of dharma, varṇa-dharma, āśrama-dharma and the dharma occasioned by both, and teaches that the smṛtis restate the dharma of the Veda. Dharma is the root of the trivarga, the tree whose branches are artha and whose fruit is kāma; it rests on satya and is the first of the four feet of vyavahāra; and the japa of the names of dharma makes a man stainless.

This page gives these teachings in full, chapter by chapter.

Dharma, the one companion

In the Agni Purāṇa, Pushkara teaches that the one who knows that everything in the world must die some day should practise dharma, for dharma alone truly stands by a man as his helper. Except a pativratā wife, no relative can die for the dead and go with him. The path to Yamaloka is separate for each one, and dharma alone is the companion who goes with the jīva (the living being) wherever he goes.

So what is to be done tomorrow should be done today, and what is to be done at midday should be done in the forenoon, for death does not wait to see whether a man’s work is finished. While a man is attached to his fields, his shops and his houses, his mind elsewhere, death carries him off as a she-wolf carries off a careless sheep. To Kāla (time) no one is dear and no one hateful; when the span of life and the prārabdha karma are complete, death comes suddenly. As a calf goes straight to its own mother, so the karma done in a former birth follows its doer.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 159

The marks of dharma

Teaching the dharma of the yati (the sannyāsī), Pushkara says that in whatever āśrama a man lives, he should practise dharma with a pure mind and look on all beings with equal vision. Merely wearing the marks of an āśrama is of no use. The fruit of the kataka tree clears muddy water, yet the water does not become clear by merely saying its name.

The Purāṇa names the ten marks of dharma (dharma-lakshaṇa). Nine are printed:

  • sthairya, steadiness
  • kshamā, patience
  • mano-nigraha, control of the mind
  • not stealing the wealth of others
  • indriya-nigraha, control of the senses
  • hrī, modesty
  • jñāna, knowledge and learning
  • satya, truth
  • akrodha, freedom from anger

The five yamas are ahiṃsā (non-injury), satya, asteya (not stealing), brahmacarya and aparigraha (not possessing). The niyamas are śauca (purity), santosha (contentment), tapas, svādhyāya (study of the Veda) and Īśvara-pūjā.

In the teaching on the dharmaśāstra, Pushkara says that study of the Veda, tapas, jñāna, control of the senses, ahiṃsā and service of those worthy of honour bring niḥśreyasa, the highest good. Above all these, ātma-jñāna is the best, the highest of all vidyās, and by it moksha is gained.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 161–162

The kinds of dharma

Pushkara then teaches the śrauta and smārta dharmas, the dharmas taught in the Veda and in the smṛtis. Dharma is of five kinds. Varṇa-dharma is taught on the ground of the varṇa alone, as the upanayana saṃskāra is required for the three upper varṇas. Āśrama-dharma is laid down for the āśrama, for a man whether he is a brahmacārī, a gṛhastha, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. Dharma laid down on the ground of both is naimittika (occasioned), as the rule of prāyaścitta.

In another way too dharma is of five kinds. The rule of the six guṇas of policy, peace, war and the rest, has a seen fruit; mantras, yajñas and the like have an unseen fruit, as Manu said. Vyavahāra (legal procedure), daṇḍa-dhāraṇa (holding the rod of punishment) and the choice between rules of equal force serve both purposes, and they too are limbs of the dharma rooted in yajña. The smṛtis teach the same dharma that the Veda teaches: for a practical purpose the smṛti restates the dharma of the Veda. This is the siddhānta of Manu.

The same chapter gives rules of conduct. Silence is kept in six acts: walking on the road, union, passing stool and urine, cleaning the teeth, bathing and eating. Flowers plucked after the bath are not fit for deva-pūjā.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 166

Dharma, artha and kāma

Teaching rāja-dharma to Paraśurāma, Pushkara says that only one who has wealth can earn dharma, and only he can enjoy kāma. Without wealth all works fail, as the waters of rivers dry up in the hot season.

Dharma, artha and kāma, the three purushārthas, are named the trivarga. The trivarga is like a great tree: dharma is its root, artha its branches and kāma its fruit. Only if the king protects that tree together with its root can he obtain the fruit, and he must guard each of the three by means of the other.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 223–224

Dharma and vyavahāra

Agni Deva, teaching Vasishṭha Maharshi the seeing of cases at law, says that vyavahāra has four caraṇas (feet): dharma, vyavahāra, caritra (custom) and rāja-śāsana (the king’s edict). Of these, each later one overrules the one before. The basis of dharma is satya, truth; the basis of vyavahāra is evidence; custom rests on what people have accepted; and the edict rests on the king’s command. Vyavahāra increases four things: dharma, artha, fame and the love of the people.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 253

The names of dharma

Dhanvantari teaches that one who does japa of the names connected with dharma, Dharmaḥ, Saddharmakṛt and Dharmī, becomes nirmala (stainless). Through the mantra “Oṃ hrūṃ namo Vishṇave”, the supreme medicine, come the good of the world and dharma.

In the Agni Purāṇa’s kośa (lexicon), the word dharma means puṇya, and the yamas and niyamas.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 284, 362

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 159, 161–162, 166, 223–224, 253, 284, 362