Shloka 1
मायासभायां दुर्योधनस्य अवमान-प्रसङ्गः
Duryodhana’s Humiliation in the Hall of Māyā
भीकम (2 अमान त्रिचत्वारिशो 5 ध्याय: भीष्मजीके द्वारा शिशुपालके जन्मके वृत्तान्तका वर्णन भीष्म उवाच चेदिराजकुले जातस्त्र्यक्ष एष चतुर्भुज: । रासभारावसदृशं ररास च ननाद च
bhīṣma uvāca | cedirājakule jātas tryakṣa eṣa caturbhujaḥ | rāsabhārāvasadṛśaṃ rarāsa ca nanāda ca ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „O Bhīmasena, höre. Im königlichen Geschlecht von Cedi, im Hause des Königs Damaghosha, wurde dieser Śiśupāla geboren—mit drei Augen und vier Armen. Statt des gewöhnlichen Säuglingsschreis stieß er ein Eselsgeschrei aus und brüllte zudem laut.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames extraordinary birth-signs as narrative markers of destiny and moral consequence: unusual bodily features and inauspicious sounds function as omens, preparing the listener to judge later conduct within a dharmic and karmic horizon rather than as isolated events.
Bhishma begins recounting Shishupala’s birth to Bhimasena: he is born in the Cedi royal family (of Damaghosha) with three eyes and four arms, and he makes a donkey-like bray and a loud roar instead of a normal infant cry—setting up the subsequent explanation of these signs.