Shloka 15
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
पार्थिवानि द्वयान्याहुर्मध्यमान्यधमानि तु । मध्यमानि विशिष्टानि जातिधर्मोपधारणात्
pārthivāni dvayāny āhur madhyamāny adhamāni tu | madhyamāni viśiṣṭāni jātidharmopadhāraṇāt ||
पार्थिव (मनुष्य)ही दोन प्रकारचे सांगितले आहेत—मध्यम आणि अधम. त्यांत मध्यम मनुष्य अधमांपेक्षा श्रेष्ठ; कारण ते जाति-धर्म धारण करतात.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Human beings are ethically distinguished by conduct: those who uphold the duties and norms appropriate to their station (jāti-dharma) are ‘madhyama’ and are considered superior to those who neglect such obligations and become ‘adhama’.
In the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa offers a moral classification of people, contrasting the ‘middling/proper’ with the ‘base,’ and grounds the distinction in adherence to prescribed dharma.