Shloka 18
Ālasyadoṣa-nirdeśa (On the Fault of Negligence) — The Camel’s Long-Neck Exemplum
बुद्धिश्रेष्ठानि कर्माणि बाहुमध्यानि भारत । तानि जड्घाजघन्यानि भारप्रत्यवराणि च
buddhiśreṣṭhāni karmāṇi bāhumadhyāni bhārata | tāni jaḍghājaghanyāni bhārapratyavarāṇi ca ||
Uḍḍa dit : « Ô Bhārata, les actes accomplis par l’intelligence sont les plus élevés. Ceux accomplis par la force des bras sont d’un rang moyen. Ceux faits par la puissance des cuisses (c’est-à-dire des jambes) sont vils ; et porter des fardeaux sur la tête est le plus bas de tous. »
उड्ड उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ranks human effort by the faculty employed: intellect-led action is praised as highest, mere physical force as middling, and increasingly menial bodily exertion as lower—highlighting an ethical preference for discernment, planning, and wise agency over brute or servile labor.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, the speaker Uḍḍa delivers a moral classification of actions to the addressed ‘Bhārata,’ using a graded comparison (intellect, arms, legs, head-burden) to instruct on values and social-ethical evaluation of work.