Shloka 14
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
जंगम जीवोंमें भी बहुत पैरवाले और दो पैरवाले--ये दो तरहके प्राणी होते हैं। इनमें बहुत पैरवालोंकी अपेक्षा दो पैरवाले अनेक प्राणी श्रेष्ठ बताये गये हैं ।।
jaṅgama-jīveṣu api bahu-pāda-vantaḥ dvi-pāda-vantaś ca—ete dvi-vidhāḥ prāṇinaḥ bhavanti | teṣu bahu-pādebhyaḥ dvi-pādā aneke prāṇinaḥ śreṣṭhā iti kathitāḥ || dvi-padāni dvayāny āhuḥ pārthivāni itarāṇi ca | pārthivāni viśiṣṭāni tāni hy annāni bhuñjate ||
Vyāsa explains that among moving creatures there are broadly two kinds: those with many feet and those with two feet. Of these, two-footed beings are often regarded as superior to the many-footed. Even among the two-footed, sages distinguish two classes—earth-bound (pārthiva, i.e., humans) and non-earth-bound (itarāṇi, i.e., birds). The earth-bound are considered superior, because they live by eating cultivated food (anna), implying a life ordered by human discipline, social duty, and regulated sustenance rather than mere instinct.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a graded view of living beings: two-footed creatures are generally considered superior to many-footed ones, and among two-footed beings, humans (pārthiva) are ranked above birds because their life is sustained by anna—cultivated food—suggesting a dharma-shaped existence involving restraint, social responsibility, and regulated livelihood.
Vyāsa is instructing by classification: he categorizes mobile creatures and then refines the category of two-footed beings into humans and birds, using the criterion of food and mode of life to indicate why humans are treated as ethically and socially distinctive in the Shānti Parva’s didactic context.