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 ||
曼陀诃多说道：“噢，吉祥的尊者！在我的国土之内，四方皆有许多弥勒叉之民居住——夜婆那、基罗多、犍陀罗、支那、舍婆罗与婆罗婆罗；又有释迦、吐霜罗、羯迦、婆诃罗婆，以及安陀罗与摩陀罗迦。其间亦有婆罗门与刹帝利的后裔，也有一些吠舍与首陀罗，已从达摩中堕落。众人皆以偷盗与劫掠为生。如此之人，如何能行持达摩？而像我这样的君王，又当如何使他们安置于应有的界限与纪律之中？”
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.