Shloka 89
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
चतुर्विधा भिक्षवस्ते कुटीचकबहूदकौ । हंस: परमहंसश्न यो यः पश्चात् स उत्तम:,संन्यासी चार प्रकारके होते हैं--कुटीचक, बहूदक, हंस और परमहंस। इनमें उत्तरोत्तर श्रेष्ठ है
caturvidhā bhikṣavas te kuṭīcaka-bahūdakau | haṁsaḥ paramahaṁsaś ca yo yaḥ paścāt sa uttamaḥ ||
Śrī Maheśvara sprach: „Es gibt vier Arten bettelnder Entsagender: den Kuṭīcaka, den Bahūdaka, den Haṁsa und den Paramahaṁsa. Unter ihnen gilt jede nachfolgende Stufe als höher als die vorhergehende.“
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse classifies renunciant mendicants into four ascending orders—Kuṭīcaka, Bahūdaka, Haṁsa, and Paramahaṁsa—and states an ethical-spiritual hierarchy: progressively greater detachment and refinement of renunciation is considered progressively superior.
Śrī Maheśvara is instructing his listener(s) within the Anuśāsana Parva’s dharma-discourse context, outlining recognized categories of sannyāsa and indicating their relative standing, as part of broader guidance on righteous living and spiritual discipline.