Shloka 20
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
देवदानवगन्धर्वा यक्षराक्षसपन्नगा:
devadānavagandharvā yakṣarākṣasapannagāḥ
Bhīṣma sprach: „Die Götter, die Dānavas, die Gandharvas, die Yakṣas, die Rākṣasas und die Schlangenwesen (pannaga)…“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
By listing many orders of beings (devas through nāgas), Bhīṣma signals that the principle he is about to state is universal—grounded in dharma and cosmic order rather than limited to a single community or species.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma is speaking and begins a catalogue of beings—gods, semi-divine groups, spirits, and serpent-races—typically used to emphasize that a rule, observation, or consequence is acknowledged across the entire world-system.