248 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 6

viso ‘vartanta lasyorvor
loka-urttikarir vibhoh

vaisyas tad-udbhavo vartamn
nrnam yah samavartayat

visah—means of living by production and distribution; avartanta—
generated; tasya—His (the gigantic form’s); drvoh—from the thighs; loka-
urttikarih—means of livelihood; vibhoh—of the Lord; vaigyah—the mercan-
lile community; tat—their; udbhavah—orientation; vartam—means of
living; nrnam—ol all men; yah—one who; samavartayat—executed.

TRANSLATION

The means of livelihood of all persons, namely production of grains and
their distribution to the prajas, was generated from the thighs of the Lord’s
gigantic form. The mercantile men who take charge of such execution are
called vaisyas.

PURPORT

Human society’s means of living is clearly mentioned here as visa, or
agriculture and the business of distributing agricultural products, which
involves transport, banking, etc. Industry is an artificial means of liveli-
hood, and large-scale industry especially is the source of all the problems
of society. In Bhagavad-gita also the duties of the vaisyas, who are engaged
in visa, 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 Lype of living. The vaisyas are divided into many subsections: some of
them are called khetry, or landowners, some are called krsana, or land
tillers, some of them are called tilvanika, or grain raisers, some are called
gandhavanika, or merchants in spices, and some are called suvarnavanika,
or merchants in gold and banking. The brahmanas are the teachers and
spirrlual masters, the kgsatriyas protect the citizens from the hands of
thieves and miscreants, and the vaisyas are in charge of production and
distribution. The sudras, the unintelligent class of men who cannot act
independently in any of the above mentioned activilics, are meant for
serving the three higher classes for their livelihood.

Formerly, the brahmanas were given all the necessities of life by the
ksatriyas and vaisyas because they had no time to spend making a living.
The ksatriyas would collect taxes from the vaigyas and stdras, but the
