Shloka 13
इन्द्रद्युम्नोपाख्यानम्
Indradyumna Upākhyāna: On Kīrti, Smṛti, and Restoration
मनुष्याणामनुयुगं हसतीति निबोध मे । राजानो ब्राह्माणा वैश्या: शूद्राश्वैव युधिष्ठिर
manuṣyāṇām anuyugaṁ hasatīti nibodha me | rājāno brāhmaṇā vaiśyāḥ śūdrāś caiva yudhiṣṭhira
摩尔甘德耶说道：“当从我这里明白：在每一个相继的时代里，人间社会如何沦为笑柄而走向衰败。噢，坚战——无论国王、婆罗门、吠舍，还是首陀罗，皆同陷此途。”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Mārkaṇḍeya introduces a lesson on how conduct and dharma deteriorate across successive yugas, affecting every social group—rulers and all varṇas—so that society becomes ‘laughable’ due to ethical decline.
In the Vana Parva dialogue, the sage Mārkaṇḍeya addresses Yudhiṣṭhira and begins an explanation about age-by-age degeneration in human society, explicitly naming kings and the four varṇas as participants in this broader historical-moral pattern.