Shloka 16
Vidyā–Avidyā and the Twenty-Fifth Principle
Sāṃkhya–Yoga Clarification
आदित्या वसवो रुद्रास्तथैवाग्न्यश्विमारुता: । विश्वेदेवास्तथा साध्या: पितरो5थ मरुद्गणा:
ādityā vasavo rudrās tathaivāgny-aśvimārutāḥ | viśvedevās tathā sādhyāḥ pitaro 'tha marudgaṇāḥ ||
Parāśara said: “The Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, and likewise Agni, the Aśvins, and the Maruts; the Viśvedevas and the Sādhyas; and also the Pitṛs (ancestral fathers) and the hosts of Maruts—these divine orders are to be understood as the great celestial classes (invoked and acknowledged in the sacred vision of dharma).”
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse enumerates major divine and ancestral classes, reinforcing a dharmic worldview in which cosmic order is understood through recognized groups of deities and Pitṛs—important for right knowledge, reverence, and ritual orientation.
Parāśara is speaking and lists prominent celestial categories—Ādityas, Vasus, Rudras, Agni, Aśvins, Maruts, Viśvedevas, Sādhyas, and Pitṛs—likely as part of a broader exposition on cosmology, sacred beings, or the structure of dharma in Śānti Parva.