Shloka 14
अध्याय १९० — वामदेव-वाम्य-वृत्तान्तः
The Vāmadeva Horses Episode and the Ethics of Promise
पादौ शूद्रा भवन्तीमे विक्रमेण क्रमेण च । ऋग्वेद: सामवेदश्च यजुर्वेदो5प्यथर्वण:
pādau śūdrā bhavantīme vikrameṇa krameṇa ca | ṛgvedaḥ sāmavedaś ca yajurvedo 'py atharvaṇaḥ ||
„Die Füße werden zu Śūdras — so heißt es — durch das Hervortreten und das Schreiten in geordneten Schritten. Und ebenso gibt es die Veden: den Ṛgveda, den Sāmaveda, den Yajurveda und auch den Atharvaveda.“
देव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links bodily function (feet as instruments of movement and ordered stepping) with symbolic social classification (Śūdra), and then affirms the canonical set of four Vedas—suggesting an ordered, traditional framework for understanding society and sacred knowledge.
A deity is speaking and, in the course of explaining traditional categories, states a symbolic association of the feet with the Śūdra varṇa and then enumerates the four Vedas as authoritative divisions of sacred learning.