Shloka 13
Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ
Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers
अचरेभ्यश्व भूतेभ्यश्वरा: श्रेष्ठा: सदा नरा: । ब्राह्मणाश्व तत: श्रेष्ठास्तेषु यज्ञा: प्रतिष्ठिता:,स्थावर प्राणियोंसे जंगम प्राणी सदा श्रेष्ठ हैं। उनमें भी मनुष्य और मनुष्योंमें भी ब्राह्मण श्रेष्ठ हैं; क्योंकि उन्हींमें यज्ञ प्रतिष्ठित हैं
acarebhyaś ca bhūtebhyaś carāḥ śreṣṭhāḥ sadā narāḥ | brāhmaṇāś ca tataḥ śreṣṭhās teṣu yajñāḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Among beings, those that move are always superior to those that are immobile. Among the moving, human beings are superior; and among humans, Brāhmaṇas are foremost—because in them the sacrificial order (yajña) is established.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharmic hierarchy: mobile beings are valued over immobile ones; among mobiles, humans are foremost; among humans, Brāhmaṇas are foremost because they preserve and enact yajña—understood as the Vedic sacrificial and moral-religious order that sustains society.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he emphasizes the special responsibility and status of Brāhmaṇas within human society, grounding it in their role as custodians of yajña and Vedic duty.