Shloka 14
Cāturāśramya-dharma—Marks of the Four Āśramas (चातुराश्रम्यधर्मः)
पौण्ड्रा: पुलिन्दा रमठा: काम्बोजाश्ैव सर्वश: । ब्रह्मक्षत्रप्रसूताश्व वैश्या: शूद्राक्ष मानवा:
pauṇḍrāḥ pulindā ramaṭhāḥ kāmbojāś caiva sarvaśaḥ | brahma-kṣatra-prasūtāś ca vaiśyāḥ śūdrāś ca mānavāḥ ||
Indra said: “The Pauṇḍras, Pulindas, Ramaṭhas, and Kāmbojas—everywhere—together with people born from Brahmins and Kṣatriyas, and also those classed as Vaiśyas and Śūdras: all these human groups are found among the borderland peoples. (The king’s concern is that) many have fallen away from dharma and live by theft and violence; therefore he asks how such communities can be brought to righteous conduct and how a king should establish them within the bounds of social and moral order.”
इन्द्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a royal-ethical problem: diverse and socially mixed frontier communities, some viewed as having fallen from dharma, must be guided by the king toward lawful livelihood and moral restraint. It foregrounds the king’s duty to establish order and encourage dharmic conduct rather than allow predation and social breakdown.
Indra is speaking in response to a king’s query (in this chapter’s dialogue) about how to govern populations described as mleccha and socially heterogeneous—descendants of various varṇas—who are said to survive by theft and raiding. The king asks how they can practice dharma and how rulers should keep them within proper limits.