Shloka 13
Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ
Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers
अचरेभ्यश्व भूतेभ्यश्वरा: श्रेष्ठा: सदा नरा: । ब्राह्मणाश्व तत: श्रेष्ठास्तेषु यज्ञा: प्रतिष्ठिता:
acarebhyaś ca bhūtebhyaś carāḥ śreṣṭhāḥ sadā narāḥ | brāhmaṇāś ca tataḥ śreṣṭhās teṣu yajñāḥ pratiṣṭhitāḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : « Parmi les êtres, ceux qui se meuvent sont toujours supérieurs à ceux qui demeurent immobiles. Parmi les mobiles, l’homme est supérieur ; et parmi les hommes, les Brāhmaṇas sont les premiers, car en eux est établi l’ordre du sacrifice (yajña). »
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.