Shloka 49
यक्ष उवाच कि ब्राह्मणानां देवत्वं कश्न धर्म: सतामिव । कश्चैषां मानुषो भाव: किमेषामसतामिव,यक्षने पूछा--्राह्मणोंमें देवत्व क्या है? उनमें सत्पुरुषोंका-सा धर्म क्या है? उनका मनुष्यभाव क्या है? और उनमें असत्पुरुषोंका-सा आचरण क्या है?
yakṣa uvāca: kiṁ brāhmaṇānāṁ devatvaṁ? kaś ca dharmaḥ satām iva? kaś caiṣāṁ mānuṣo bhāvaḥ? kim eṣām asatām iva?
The Yakṣa asked: “What is the godlike quality of brāhmaṇas? What is their dharma that resembles the conduct of the virtuous? What in them is simply human? And what in them is like the behavior of the unvirtuous?”
यक्ष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical inquiry: true status is measured not by birth alone but by qualities—divine virtues, righteous conduct, ordinary human limitations, and the risk of falling into ignoble behavior. It invites discernment of character through actions aligned with dharma.
In the Yakṣa–Yudhiṣṭhira dialogue of the Vana Parva, the Yakṣa tests understanding of dharma through probing questions. Here he asks Yudhiṣṭhira to define what makes brāhmaṇas ‘divine,’ what marks their virtuous duty, what is merely human in them, and what resembles the conduct of the wicked.