Shloka 25
Kṣātra-Dharma, Daṇḍanīti, and Social Order
Indra–Māndhātṛ Dialogue
इमामुर्वी नाजयद् विक्रमेण देवश्रेष्ठ; सासुरामादिदेव: । चातुर्वर्ण्य चातुराश्रम्य धर्मा: सर्वे न स्युब्रह्मिणानां विनाशात्
imām urvīṁ nājayad vikrameṇa devaśreṣṭhaḥ sāsurām ādidevaḥ | cāturvarṇya-cāturāśramya-dharmāḥ sarve na syur brāhmaṇīnām vināśāt ||
Indra dit : Si le Suprême parmi les dieux—le Seigneur primordial, Vishnou—n’avait pas, après avoir vaincu les Asuras, conquis cette terre par sa force et sa vaillance, alors, avec la destruction des brahmanes, tous les devoirs des quatre ordres et des quatre étapes de la vie auraient cessé. Le verset souligne que la protection des brahmanes (dépositaires du savoir védique et de l’ordre rituel) est présentée comme la garantie de la continuité du dharma dans la société.
इन्द्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the continuity of dharma—especially the varṇa-āśrama duties—is portrayed as dependent on safeguarding Brahmins, who represent Vedic learning, ritual transmission, and moral-legal authority; without them, the social-religious framework collapses.
Indra is explaining a causal link between divine protection of the world (attributed to the primordial lord, identified in the received tradition as Vishnu, who overcomes the Asuras) and the preservation of human dharma; he argues that without such divine victory and protection, Brahmins would be destroyed and the entire varṇa-āśrama order would disappear.