Verse 10.97

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

वरं स्वधर्मो विगुणो न पारक्यः स्वनुष्ठितः ।
परधर्मेण जीवन् हि सद्यः पतति जातितः ॥ ९७ ॥

varaṃ svadharmo viguṇo na pārakyaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ |
paradharmeṇa jīvan hi sadyaḥ patati jātitaḥ || 97 ||

Better one’s own duty imperfectly performed, and not the duty of another performed perfectly; he who subsists by the function of another, instantly falls off from his caste.—(97)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This is a deprecatory declamation in support of the foregoing injunction.

If a certain duty has been prescribed for one, in reference to his caste,—even though this be ‘performed imperfectly’—i.e., incomplete in its details,—it is right to perform that, and not the duty of another man, even though complete in all its details.

In support of this there is the deprecatory declamation—‘He who subsists, etc., etc.’— (97)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.41);—in Aparārka (p. 935);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 233), to the effect that even in times of distress it is better for the Brāhmaṇa to stick to his own functions than take to others;—and in Saṃskāramayūkha (p. 123).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Vaśiṣṭha (2. 2 2-23).—‘Those who are unable to live by their own occupation may adopt that of the next inferior caste; but never that of a higher caste.’

Viṣṇu (2.15).—‘In times of distress, each caste may follow the occupation of that next below it in rank.’