Shloka 38
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
अल्पसाराल्पदेहाश्व॒ तथा सत्याल्पभाषिण: । बहुशून्या जनपदा मृगव्यालावृता दिश:
alpasārālpadehāś ca tathā satyālpabhāṣiṇaḥ | bahuśūnyā janapadā mṛgavyālāvṛtā diśaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dijo: «Los hombres serán de poca sustancia y de cuerpos endebles, y hablarán con una mínima porción de verdad. Muchas regiones quedarán casi desiertas, y todas las direcciones estarán invadidas por bestias salvajes y depredadores».
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that when dharma declines, human character and strength diminish: people lose inner substance, truthfulness in speech wanes, and society becomes unsafe and depopulated—an ethical reminder that truth (satya) and inner worth (sāra) sustain social order.
Vaiśampāyana is describing ominous future conditions—signs of an age of decline—where human communities thin out and the natural world (wild beasts and predators) encroaches upon inhabited spaces, indicating disorder and insecurity.