Shloka 13
Cāturāśramya-dharma—Marks of the Four Āśramas (चातुराश्रम्यधर्मः)
मान्धातोवाच यवना: किराता गान्धाराक्षीना: शबरबर्बरा: | शकास्तुषारा: कड्काश्च पह्लवाश्चान्ध्रमद्रका:
māndhātovāca—yavanāḥ kirātā gāndhārāḥ cīnāḥ śabarabarbarāḥ | śakās tuṣārāḥ kaṅkāś ca pahlavāś cāndhramadrakāḥ ||
Māndhātā said: “O Blessed Lord, within my realm dwell on every side many mleccha peoples—Yavanas, Kirātas, Gāndhāras, Cīnas, Śabaras and Barbaras; Śakas, Tuṣāras, Kaṅkas, Pahlavas, as well as Āndhras and Madrakas. Among them are also descendants of Brāhmaṇas and Kṣatriyas, and some Vaiśyas and Śūdras too, who have fallen away from dharma. All of them sustain themselves by theft and robbery. How can such people practice dharma? And how should kings like me establish them within proper bounds and discipline?”
इन्द्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic rāja-dharma problem: when diverse communities—including those seen as outside Vedic norms and those who have ‘fallen’ from proper conduct—live within a kingdom and survive by crime, the king must find a way to bring them under maryādā (disciplined limits) so that social order and dharma can function.
King Māndhātā addresses Indra, describing the presence of many frontier/foreign peoples and socially degraded groups in his realm, noting their reliance on theft and robbery, and asks how they can be made to practice dharma and how a ruler should regulate and reform them.