Shloka 19
Adhyāya 123 — Droṇa’s Pedagogy: Arjuna’s Preeminence, Ekalavya’s Self-Training, and the Bhāsa-Lakṣya Trial
(मघे चन्द्रमसा युक्ते सिंहे चाभ्युदिते गुरौ । दिवामध्यगते सूर्ये तिथौ पुण्ये त्रयोदशे ।।
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
maghe candramasā yukte siṁhe cābhyudite gurau |
divāmadhyagate sūrye tithau puṇye trayodaśe ||
maitre muhūrte sā kuntī suṣuve bhīmam acyutam ||
yasminn ahani bhīmas tu jajñe bharatasattama |
duryodhano 'pi tatraiva prajajñe vasudhādhipa ||
Vaiśampāyana said: When the Moon was conjoined with the Maghā constellation, when Jupiter had risen in Leo, and when the Sun stood at midday in the middle of the sky—on that auspicious thirteenth lunar day, at the Maitra muhūrta—Kuntī gave birth to Bhīma, steadfast in power. O best of the Bharatas, on the very same day that Bhīma was born, Duryodhana too was born there in Hastināpura, O lord of the earth. The narrative underscores a fateful simultaneity: the rise of a mighty protector and the rise of a future source of conflict, framed by precise omens of time.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the epic frames human history within a larger cosmic and moral order: the simultaneous births of Bhīma and Duryodhana suggest a destined tension—strength arising both to uphold and to challenge dharma—inviting reflection on how power can serve protection or aggression depending on character and choices.
Vaiśampāyana specifies the astrological and calendrical details of Bhīma’s birth (Maghā nakṣatra, Jupiter risen in Leo, midday Sun, Trayodaśī, Maitra muhūrta) and then states that Duryodhana was born on that very same day in Hastināpura.