Devanagari
विशोऽवर्तन्त तस्योर्वोर्लोकवृत्तिकरीर्विभो: ।
वैश्यस्तदुद्भवो वार्तां नृणां य: समवर्तयत् ॥ ३२ ॥
Verse text
viśo ’vartanta tasyorvor
loka-vṛttikarīr vibhoḥ
vaiśyas tad-udbhavo vārtāṁ
nṛṇāṁ yaḥ samavartayat
Synonyms
viśaḥ
—
means of living by production and distribution
;
avartanta
—
generated
;
tasya
—
His (the gigantic form’s)
;
ūrvoḥ
—
from the thighs
;
loka
—
vṛttikarīḥ — means of livelihood
;
vibhoḥ
—
of the Lord
;
vaiśyaḥ
—
the mercantile community
;
tat
—
their
;
udbhavaḥ
—
orientation
;
vārtām
—
means of living
;
nṛṇām
—
of all men
;
yaḥ
—
one who
;
samavartayat
—
executed .
Translation
The means of livelihood of all persons, namely production of grains and their distribution to the prajās, was generated from the thighs of the Lord’s gigantic form. The mercantile men who take charge of such execution are called vaiśyas.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
From the thighs of the universal form appeared occupations such as farming which give sustenance to the people and the vaiśyas who produced sustenance for all men.
From the thighs appeared businesses such as farming (viśaḥ), which provide maintenance for all people. The vaiśyas also appeared from the thighs, who supplied sustenance for humans by their behavior.
Purport
Human society’s means of living is clearly mentioned here as
viśa,
or agriculture and the business of distributing agricultural products, which involves transport, banking, etc. Industry is an artificial means of livelihood, and large-scale industry especially is the source of all the problems of society. In
Bhagavad-gītā
also the duties of the
vaiśyas,
who are engaged in
viśa,
are stated as cow protection, agriculture and business. We have already discussed that the human being can safely depend on the cow and agricultural land for his livelihood.
The exchange of produce by banking and transportation is a branch of this type of living. The
vaiśyas
are divided into many subsections: some of them are called
kṣetrī,
or landowners, some are called
kṛṣaṇa,
or land tillers, some of them are called
tila-vaṇik,
or grain raisers, some are called
gandha-vaṇik,
or merchants in spices, and some are called
suvarṇa-vaṇik,
or merchants in gold and banking. The
brāhmaṇas
are the teachers and spiritual masters, the
kṣatriyas
protect the citizens from the hands of thieves and miscreants, and the
vaiśyas
are in charge of production and distribution. The
śūdras,
the unintelligent class of men who cannot act independently in any of the above-mentioned activities, are meant for serving the three higher classes for their livelihood.
Formerly, the
brāhmaṇas
were given all the necessities of life by the
kṣatriyas
and
vaiśyas
because they had no time to spend making a living. The
kṣatriyas
would collect taxes from the
vaiśyas
and
śūdras,
but the
brāhmaṇas
were exempt from paying income tax or land revenue. That system of human society was so nice that there were no political, social and economic upheavals. The different castes, or
varṇa
classifications, are therefore essential for maintaining a peaceful human society.