Shloka 24
अध्याय २०८ — इन्द्रियनिग्रहः, सत्याहिंसात्मकवाक्, कर्मफलविवेकः
Restraint of the Senses, Non-harming Truthful Speech, and Discernment of Karmic Consequence
अश्विनौ तु स्मृतौ शूद्रौ तपस्युग्रे समास्थितौ । स्मृतास्त्वद्धिरसो देवा ब्राह्मणा इति निश्चय:
aśvinau tu smṛtau śūdrāv tapasy ugre samāsthitau | smṛtās tv aṅgiraso devā brāhmaṇā iti niścayaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Les deux Aśvins sont, selon la tradition, tenus pour appartenir à la catégorie des Śūdras, car ils se tiennent dans une austérité rigoureuse. Les dieux de la lignée d’Aṅgiras, en revanche, sont tenus pour des Brāhmaṇas — telle est la conclusion arrêtée des savants.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that traditional social classifications (as preserved in smṛti) can assign varna-identities even to divine beings, and it links such identification to lineage (Aṅgiras) and to the motif of intense austerity (tapas). It underscores the authority of received tradition and learned consensus in such determinations.
In Bhīṣma’s discourse on dharma and social order in the Śānti Parva, he cites a traditional view: the Aśvin twins are remembered as Śūdras due to their association with severe tapas, while the deities connected with the Aṅgiras lineage are remembered as Brāhmaṇas, presenting this as the established opinion of scholars.