Shloka 9
Cāturāśramya-dharma—Marks of the Four Āśramas (चातुराश्रम्यधर्मः)
चातुराश्रम्यधर्माश्च वेदधर्माश्च पार्थिव । ब्राह्मणेनानुगन्तव्या नान्यो विद्यात् कदाचन
cāturāśramyadharmāś ca vedadharmāś ca pārthiva | brāhmaṇenānugantavyā nānyo vidyāt kadācana ||
Indra said: “O king, the duties belonging to the four āśramas, and the duties taught in the Vedas, are to be followed in full by the brāhmaṇa. No other person—such as a śūdra—can ever truly know those Vedic duties in the same way.”
इन्द्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a varṇa-āśrama framework: the full range of āśrama-based duties and Vedic injunctions are presented as properly knowable and to be practiced primarily by brāhmaṇas, emphasizing Vedic learning and ritual-ethical competence as their defining responsibility.
Indra addresses a king and instructs him on dharma, specifically highlighting who is qualified to know and follow Vedic and āśrama duties, thereby reinforcing a normative social-religious order within the Śānti Parva’s broader discourse on righteous conduct.