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 berkata: “Wahai Bhagavan, di dalam kerajaanku, di segala penjuru, tinggal banyak kaum mleccha—Yavana, Kirāta, Gāndhāra, Cīna, Śabara dan Barbara; Śaka, Tuṣāra, Kaṅka, Pahlava, juga Āndhra dan Madraka. Di antara mereka ada pula keturunan Brāhmaṇa dan Kṣatriya, dan ada juga Vaiśya serta Śūdra yang telah jatuh dari dharma. Semuanya mencari nafkah dengan pencurian dan perampokan. Bagaimana orang-orang seperti ini dapat menjalankan dharma? Dan bagaimana raja-raja seperti aku harus menegakkan mereka dalam batas dan tata tertib yang semestinya?”
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.