Shloka 11
Kṣātra-Dharma, Daṇḍanīti, and Social Order
Indra–Māndhātṛ Dialogue
अत्र ते वर्तयिष्यामि धर्ममर्थविनिश्चयम् । निर्मयदि वर्तमाने दानवैकार्णवे पुरा
atra te vartayiṣyāmi dharmam arthaviniścayam | nirmadī vartamāne dānavākarṇave purā ||
在此，我将为你叙述一则合乎法（dharma）的事迹，用以判定 artha（现实利益与福祉）的真实旨趣。久远以前，当世间放纵无度，仿佛沉没在达那婆般无法无天的汪洋之中时，这一教诲便被宣说出来，以恢复对正当行为与正当利益的明晰认识。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma frames the coming story as a decisive clarification of how artha (practical welfare and aims) must be judged through dharma; when society becomes lawless, only dharma can rightly determine what counts as true benefit.
Bhīṣma announces that he will narrate an ancient dharmic history. He sets the scene as a time when the world had become unruly, metaphorically drowned in an ‘ocean of Dānava-nature,’ preparing the listener for a corrective moral exemplum.