Shloka 24
Kṣātra-Dharma, Daṇḍanīti, and Social Order
Indra–Māndhātṛ Dialogue
यदि हासौ भगवान् नाहनिष्यद् रिपून् सर्वानसुरानप्रमेय: । न ब्राह्मणा न च लोकादिकर्ता नायं धर्मो नादिधर्मो5भविष्यत्
yadi hāsau bhagavān nāhaniṣyad ripūn sarvān asurān aprameyaḥ | na brāhmaṇā na ca lokādikartā nāyaṃ dharmo nādi-dharmo bhaviṣyat ||
因陀罗说道：“若那不可度量之主不曾诛尽一切为敌的阿修罗，则婆罗门之名亦不为世所知，诸世界的本初创造者梵天也不会显现。此法将不能存续，连‘本初之法’这一观念也无从被认识。”
इन्द्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma and the institutions that uphold it (such as Brahminical guardianship of sacred knowledge and the creator’s ordered cosmos) depend on divine intervention against forces that threaten cosmic stability; the Lord’s protection is presented as a prerequisite for the visibility and continuity of Dharma.
Indra praises the Lord’s decisive destruction of the Asuras, arguing that without this act the world’s foundational order—Brahmins, the primal creator, and Dharma itself—would not be established or recognizable.