Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.4.13

yavīyāmsa ekāśītir jāyanteyāh pitur ādeśakarā mahā-śālīnā mahā-śrotriyā yajña-śīlāh karma-viśuddhā brāhmanā babhūvuh

SYNONYMS

yavīyāmsah — younger; ekāśītih — numbering eighty-one; jāyanteyāh — the sons of Jayantī, the wife of Rishabhadeva; pituh — of their father; ādeśakarāh — following the order; mahā-śālīnāh — well behaved. well cultured; mahā-śrotriyāh — extremely learned in Vedic knowledge; yajña-śīlāh — expert in performing ritualistic ceremonies; karma-viśuddhāh — very pure in their activities; brāhmanāh — qualified brāhmanas; babhūvuh — became.

TRANSLATION

In addition to these nineteen sons mentioned above, there were eighty-one younger ones, all born of Rishabhadeva and Jayantī. According to the order of their father, they became well cultured, well behaved, very pure in their activities and expert in Vedic knowledge and the performance of Vedic rituals. Thus they all became perfectly qualified brāhmanas.

PURPORT

From this verse we have good information of how the castes are qualified according to quality and work. Rishabhadeva, a king, was certainly a kshatriya. He had a hundred sons, and out of these, ten were engaged as kshatriyas and ruled the planet. Nine sons became good preachers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (mahā-bhāgavatas), and this indicates that they were above the position of brāhmanas. The other eighty-one sons became highly qualified brāhmanas. These are some practical examples of how one can become fit for a certain type of activity by qualification, not by birth. All the sons of Mahārāja Rishabhadeva were kshatriyas by birth, but by quality some of them became kshatriyas, and some became brāhmanas. Nine became preachers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (bhāgavata-dharma-darśanāh), which means that they were above the categories of kshatriya and brāhmana.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness