Shloka 114
अनादिर्भूभ्भुवो लक्ष्मी: सुवीरो रुचिराड़ूद: । जननो जनजन्मादिर्भीमो भीमपराक्रम:
anādir bhūr-bhuvo lakṣmīḥ suvīro rucirāṅgadaḥ | janano jana-janmādir bhīmo bhīma-parākramaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: He is without beginning, the primal cause of all. He is the support of earth and the worlds, and the very splendor that makes all beautiful things shine. He is a noble hero, wearing radiant armlets; the begetter of all beings and the first cause behind the birth of those who are born. To the wicked he is Bhīma—terrifying—and his valor is itself fearsome, overwhelming all opposition. In this litany, Bhīṣma frames the Divine as both the source of life and the righteous power that restrains and subdues evil.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Divine is simultaneously the beginningless source of creation and the moral force that protects order: He generates life, sustains the worlds, embodies auspicious beauty, and becomes terrifying power against wrongdoing—showing that compassion and righteous severity are complementary aspects of dharma.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira and recites the thousand names of Viṣṇu (Viṣṇu-sahasranāma). This verse is one segment of that hymn, listing epithets that praise the deity’s cosmic originlessness, sustaining power, auspicious radiance, and fearsome prowess against evil.