The divine set (16.1–3) runs to some twenty-six qualities and needs no gloss beyond noticing its balance — it weds inner virtues (fearlessness, purity, serenity) to outer ones (charity, non-violence, gentleness), and strength (vigour, fortitude) to softness (modesty, compassion). The demonic set is defined first in miniature (16.4 — hypocrisy, arrogance, self-conceit, anger, harshness, ignorance) and then unfolded at length (16.7–18). Its essence is diagnosed at 16.7: “the demonic know not what is to be done nor what is to be refrained from” — they have lost the very compass of pravṛtti and nivṛtti. From this root failure grow their marks: they deny truth and God (16.8), do fierce deeds for the world’s ruin (16.9), are bound by insatiable hope and driven by lust and anger (16.10–12), hoard wealth by any means (16.13), deify themselves (16.14), and perform even worship as hollow show (16.17). The contrast is not between two tribes of people but between two tendencies alive in every heart — for the guṇas of canto 14 are the soil of both.

The brief demonic list at 16.4 does interrupt the flowing divine list of 16.1–3, and can read as an intrusion. But it functions as a hinge: having completed the portrait of the divine, K turns the page with a single sharp verse before opening the long demonic portrait (16.7 ff.). The apparent “misfit” is a deliberate pivot — the bright panel closing, the dark panel opening, joined by the short verse that names the darkness for the first time.