Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 141
Śiva-nāmānukīrtana-prastāvaḥ
Prologue to the praise of Śiva and the Upamanyu testimony
नराणां देवनारीणां तथा प्रेतपिशाचयो: । किरातशबराणां च जलजानामनेकश:
narāṇāṁ devanārīṇāṁ tathā pretapiśācayoḥ | kirātaśabarāṇāṁ ca jalajānām anekaśaḥ ||
Vāsudeva said: “Among human beings, among celestial women, and likewise among pretas and piśācas; among the Kirātas and Śabaras as well; and among the many kinds of creatures born in the waters—(this principle is seen everywhere).”
वासुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the wide scope of a stated principle by listing many categories of beings—human, divine, spirit-world, tribal communities, and aquatic life—implying that the teaching applies universally across different realms and forms of existence.
Vāsudeva is speaking and broadening his point through an enumerative catalogue of beings. The verse functions as a rhetorical expansion: it signals that what he is describing is not limited to a single group but is observed among many kinds of creatures and communities.