Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 21
नच मां च्यावयेद् राष्ट्रात् त्रिषु लोकेषु कश्नन । देवो वा मानुषो वापि तस्माज्ज्येष्ठो द्विजादहम्
na ca māṁ cyāvayed rāṣṭrāt triṣu lokeṣu kaścana | devo vā mānuṣo vāpi tasmāj jyeṣṭho dvijād aham ||
Wika ni Arjuna: “Sa tatlong daigdig, walang sinuman—diyos man o tao—ang makapagpapaalis sa akin sa aking kaharian. Kaya ako’y nakahihigit maging sa ‘dalawang ulit na isinilang’ (dvija).”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical danger of overconfidence in worldly power: claiming invincibility and superiority over the dvija challenges the traditional primacy of spiritual authority, inviting reflection on humility, rightful hierarchy, and the limits of royal might within dharma.
Arjuna speaks in a defiant tone, asserting that no being—divine or human—can depose him from his kingdom, and concluding from this that he is superior even to the twice-born; the statement functions as a rhetorical assertion of kṣatriya dominance and sets up a value-tension with brāhmaṇical precedence.