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 explique que, parmi les êtres mobiles, on distingue en gros deux sortes : ceux qui ont de nombreux pieds et ceux qui en ont deux. Parmi eux, les bipèdes sont souvent tenus pour supérieurs aux êtres aux nombreux pieds. Et même chez les bipèdes, les sages distinguent deux classes — les « terrestres » (pārthiva, c’est-à-dire les hommes) et les « non terrestres » (itarāṇi, c’est-à-dire les oiseaux). Les terrestres sont jugés supérieurs, parce qu’ils vivent en mangeant une nourriture cultivée (anna), signe d’une existence réglée par la discipline humaine, le devoir social et une subsistance ordonnée plutôt que par le seul 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.