Shloka 6
Kṣātra-Dharma, Daṇḍanīti, and Social Order
Indra–Māndhātṛ Dialogue
धर्माश्रमे5 ध्यवसिनां ब्राह्मणानां युधिष्ठिर । यथा त्रयाणां वर्णानां संख्यातोपश्रुति: पुरा
dharmāśrame 'dhyavasināṃ brāhmaṇānāṃ yudhiṣṭhira | yathā trayāṇāṃ varṇānāṃ saṃkhyātopaśrutiḥ purā ||
Bhishma said: O Yudhishthira, just as authoritative tradition once taught that the duties of the three varṇas are, in a certain reckoning, gathered into the kṣatriya’s dharma, so too the duties of Brahmins who abide in the three āśramas—celibate student by choice, forest-dweller, and renunciant—are comprehended within the householder’s stage. The householder’s life is thus presented as the sustaining center that supports and integrates the other disciplines.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a hierarchical integration of duties: the householder stage (gārhasthya) is portrayed as the comprehensive support-system in which the disciplines and obligations of other āśramas (lifelong student, forest-dweller, renunciant) are, in effect, included—because society, ritual economy, and the maintenance of dharma depend upon householders.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma after the war, Bhishma continues advising King Yudhishthira. Here he cites older authoritative teaching (upaśruti) to explain how duties are classified and supported, emphasizing the centrality of the householder’s role in sustaining the broader religious-social order.