Shloka 18
Ālasyadoṣa-nirdeśa (On the Fault of Negligence) — The Camel’s Long-Neck Exemplum
बुद्धिश्रेष्ठानि कर्माणि बाहुमध्यानि भारत । तानि जड्घाजघन्यानि भारप्रत्यवराणि च,भारत! बुद्धिबलसे किये गये कार्य श्रेष्ठ हैं। बाहुबलसे किये जानेवाले कार्य मध्यम हैं। जाँघ अर्थात् पैरके बलसे किये गये कार्य जघन्य (अधम कोटिके) हैं तथा मस्तकसे भार ढोनेका कार्य सबसे निम्न श्रेणीका है
buddhiśreṣṭhāni karmāṇi bāhumadhyāni bhārata | tāni jaḍghājaghanyāni bhārapratyavarāṇi ca ||
Disse Uḍḍa: “Ó Bhārata, as ações realizadas pela inteligência são as mais elevadas. As realizadas pela força dos braços são de grau médio. As feitas pelo poder das coxas (isto é, das pernas) são vis; e carregar fardos sobre a cabeça é o mais baixo de tudo.”
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.