Shloka 23
धर्मस्य वसव: पुत्रा रुद्राश्नामिततेजस: । विश्वेदेवाश्ष॒ साध्याश्ष मरुत्वन्तक्ष भारत
dharmasya vasavaḥ putrā rudrāś cāmitatejasaḥ | viśvedevāś ca sādhyāś ca marutvantaś ca bhārata ||
Bhīṣma said: “O Bhārata, the Vasus are the sons of Dharma; the Rudras, of immeasurable splendour; and likewise the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, and the Maruts.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse situates major Vedic deity-groups within a dharmic genealogy, presenting Dharma as a foundational principle from which cosmic order and divine functions proceed; it reinforces that righteousness is not merely human ethics but a cosmic source and structure.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and related knowledge. Here he enumerates classes of gods and their lineage, as part of a broader exposition that links moral order (Dharma) with the organization of the cosmos.