Shloka 21
अध्याय २०८ — इन्द्रियनिग्रहः, सत्याहिंसात्मकवाक्, कर्मफलविवेकः
Restraint of the Senses, Non-harming Truthful Speech, and Discernment of Karmic Consequence
एत एवंविधा देवा मनोरेव प्रजापते: । ते च पूर्व सुराक्षेति द्विविधा: पितर: स्मृता:,इस प्रकार ये देवता प्रजापति मनुकी ही संतान हैं। वे तथा पूर्वोक्त देवता-ये दो प्रकारके पितर माने गये हैं
eta evaṃvidhā devā manoreva prajāpateḥ | te ca pūrva-surākṣeti dvividhāḥ pitaraḥ smṛtāḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „So sind diese Götter — von der eben beschriebenen Art — wahrlich die Nachkommen des Prajāpati Manu. Und sie werden, zusammen mit den zuvor genannten Gottheiten, als die Pitṛs in zwei verschiedenen Klassen erinnert.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse grounds the authority of ancestral categories in sacred genealogy: certain deities are traced to Prajapati Manu, and together with earlier-mentioned divine groups they constitute a twofold classification of the Pitrs, reinforcing the traditional framework behind ancestral veneration and ritual duty.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he continues a doctrinal explanation about the Pitrs (ancestral beings), identifying their origin from Manu and summarizing that, along with previously described deities, they are recognized as two categories.