Shloka 11
Kṣātra-Dharma, Daṇḍanīti, and Social Order
Indra–Māndhātṛ Dialogue
अत्र ते वर्तयिष्यामि धर्ममर्थविनिश्चयम् । निर्मयदि वर्तमाने दानवैकार्णवे पुरा
atra te vartayiṣyāmi dharmam arthaviniścayam | nirmadī vartamāne dānavākarṇave purā ||
Here I shall relate to you a dharmic account that determines the true purport of artha (practical good and welfare). Long ago, when the world had become unrestrained—sunk, as it were, in an ocean of Dānava-like lawlessness—this teaching was set forth to restore clarity about right conduct and right advantage.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma frames the coming story as a decisive clarification of how artha (practical welfare and aims) must be judged through dharma; when society becomes lawless, only dharma can rightly determine what counts as true benefit.
Bhīṣma announces that he will narrate an ancient dharmic history. He sets the scene as a time when the world had become unruly, metaphorically drowned in an ‘ocean of Dānava-nature,’ preparing the listener for a corrective moral exemplum.