Dharma in the Vāmana Purāṇa
Dharma, “that which upholds”
Dharma has other meanings too: see all meanings of Dharma.
The Vāmana Purāṇa, told by Pulastya Maharshi to Nārada Maharshi, shows dharma at work in the life of the worlds. In the stotra of Bhagavān Śiva to Bhagavān Vishṇu, dharma and every virtue are named as Vishṇu himself, and Bhagavān Vishṇu says that he took up tapas for the spreading of dharma. Under the daitya kings Prahlāda and Bali the four varṇas kept their own dharma, and the worlds flourished. Prahlāda taught his grandson Bali that when the four varṇas keep their own dharma, dharma grows and kings rise, and that the decline of dharma is the cause of the decline of a kingdom. Under Bali’s rule the Kali yuga itself became the Kṛta yuga, and dharma stood on all four feet. On the Akhaṇḍa mountain the Purāṇa shows dharma as the first of the four purushārthas (aims of life), with an āśrama of its own.
This page gives these accounts in full, chapter by chapter.
Dharma is Bhagavān Vishṇu
In the land of Kurujāṅgala, Bhagavān Śiva had darśana of Bhagavān Vishṇu, Garuḍadhvaja, the lotus-eyed Puṇḍarīkāksha, holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā. Joining his palms in añjali, Bhagavān Śiva praised him with a stotra, asking to be freed from brahmahatyā (the pāpa of slaying a brāhmaṇa). In that stotra he names the elements, the mind and the intellect, day and night, the Vedas and every virtue as Vishṇu:
“Dharma, yajña, tapas, satya (truth), ahiṃsā (non-injury), śauca (purity), ārjava (straightness), kshamā (forbearance), dāna (giving), dayā (compassion), Lakshmī, brahmacarya: all are you.”
When Nara and Nārāyaṇa, the sons of Dharma, were doing tapas at Badarī, the daitya king Prahlāda could not overcome them in battle. Bhagavān Vishṇu told him: “With the wish for the welfare of the worlds (loka-kalyāṇa), for the spreading of dharma (dharma-pravardhana), I myself undertook this severe tapas. Conquer them with bhakti.” Prahlāda went to Badarī, bowed to Nara and Nārāyaṇa, and addressed Nārāyaṇa as Dharmamūrti, the very form of dharma. Nārāyaṇa blessed him and told him to practise the dharma proper to his kula (family line).
On the Akhaṇḍa mountain, Bhagavān Vishṇu bears the name Akhaṇḍa-tattva, “the undivided principle”, because he is made of the four purushārthas, dharma and the rest. As its sign he is present there as the four-armed Jagannātha.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 8, 62
The dharma of the four varṇas under Prahlāda
After Hiraṇyakaśipu was slain, Prahlāda was consecrated king of the daityas. He honoured the devas and the brāhmaṇas, and under his rule every varṇa kept its own dharma:
- All the kings on earth performed yajñas and the other rites as the śāstras enjoin.
- The brāhmaṇas were devoted to tapas, study, tīrtha-yātrā (journeys to the tīrthas) and the other works of dharma.
- The vaiśyas were devoted to the keeping of cattle and to trade.
- The śūdras were devoted to service (sevā-dharma).
With the people of the four varṇas devoted to their own dharma, the devas too carried out their own functions.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 7
Prahlāda’s teaching to Bali
When Bali had won the three worlds and sat on Indra‘s throne, he remembered his grandfather Prahlāda, the parama-bhāgavata, and Prahlāda came at once from Pātāla. Bali offered him the kingdom, but Prahlāda gave it back and seated him again on the throne. Then Bali asked: “Grandfather, while protecting the kingdom of the three worlds, how should I perform the duties that accomplish dharma, artha, kāma and moksha?” Śukrācārya joined in the request, and Prahlāda gave him a teaching joined with dharma and artha:
- As king, do works that stand into the future and bring good to the world.
- Earn wealth in a way not opposed to dharma.
- Pursue kāma in a way agreeable to all, so that it brings good both here and hereafter.
- Act so that you are praised at every step, so that fame comes and there is no ill-fame.
- The best of men desire wealth so that the elders, friends, relatives, kinsmen, the virtuous and the brāhmaṇas may be honoured in their homes, for good name, and to support those who have nothing.
- Do excellent works, so that those of noble birth and other worthy people may live in your kingdom without care, and so that your fame spreads in the ten directions.
- When the earth is adorned with brāhmaṇas, surrounded by kshatriyas, rich in crops and bright with those who serve, the kings who rule it prosper.
- So make the kingdom favourable to the vipras (brāhmaṇas), so that those learned in śruti and śāstra perform the yajñas and yāgas that bring welfare to king and kingdom, and perform tapas.
- Only from the smoke of the yajña fire do kings gain peace and happiness.
- See that the tapasvīs and the best of brāhmaṇas, who perform yajña for themselves and for others and who teach, receive pūjā and honour everywhere in the kingdom.
- Encourage the kshatriyas, who live by weapons, to study the Vedas, perform yajñas, be generous and protect the people.
- See that the vaiśyas, skilled in trade, are givers, perform yajña and study, and carry on farming and the keeping of cattle well.
- See that the śūdras, giving service and help to the brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas and vaiśyas in carrying out their dharma, act under your command.
- When the four varṇas practise their own dharmas well, dharma grows. With the growth of dharma, kings rise. So strive that all in your kingdom are devoted to svadharma (their own dharma).
- It is the verdict of the elders that the decline of dharma is the cause of the decline of the kingdom.
Bali joined his hands and said, “I bear your command on my head.”
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 48
Dharma on all four feet
Bali ruled the three worlds without departing from dharma. Seeing the whole world turned into the Kṛta yuga, Kali fled in fear to Satyaloka and took hold of the feet of Brahmā, crying that Bali had destroyed his very nature. Brahmā (Pitāmaha) answered that Bali had changed the nature of the whole world, and called him dharma-nirata, devoted to dharma: no one but Śrī Hari, the thousand-headed and thousand-footed, could take his kingdom and his fame from him. Kali went away to the Vibhītaka forest.
When Kali had gone, the Kṛta yuga spread through the three worlds, and dharma stood on all four feet among the people of the four varṇas. Ahiṃsā, tapas, satya, śauca, control of the senses, dayā, dāna, freedom from cruelty, service, and the works of yajña in the form of tyāga (giving up) blossomed everywhere. The dvijas, devoted to svadharma, stood firm in the dharmas of their āśramas, and the kings ruled their people with care. With the three worlds established in dharma, Lakshmī of the three worlds came to Bali as Jayaśrī. Under his rule the people knew neither hunger nor thirst, there was no misery or impurity anywhere, and all, keeping their niyamas (rules of conduct) and enjoying happiness as dharma allows, shone with doubled splendour.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 49
The āśrama of dharma
When Śukrācārya called the Bhārgava brāhmaṇas to Bali‘s yajña at Kurukshetra, the maharshis of the Ātreya, Gautama, Kauśika and Āṅgirasa lines left Kurujāṅgala and went north, bathing in river after river, until they came to the Akhaṇḍa mountain. In the middle of a forest there they saw a great holy āśrama, the abode of the caturvarga (the four aims of life), honoured by all people. It has four āśramas, one in each direction:
- Facing east, the Dharmāśrama, surrounded by groves of palāśa trees.
- Facing west, the Arthāśrama, filled with sugarcane.
- Facing south, the Kāmya āśrama, among banana and aśoka trees.
- Facing north, the Mokshāśrama, shining with the beauty of pure crystal.
At the end of the Kṛta yuga moksha dwells there; at the end of the Tretā yuga, kāma; at the end of the Dvāpara, artha; and at the beginning of the Kali yuga, dharma dwells in that āśrama. There munis learned in the śruti worship Bhagavān Vishṇu with one-pointed minds, in the vow of brahmacarya.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 62
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 7–8, 48–49, 62