Shloka 79
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
विरोचनस्य बलवान् बलि: पुत्रो महासुर:
virocanasya balavān baliḥ putro mahāsuraḥ |
Bhīṣma dit : «À Virocana naîtra un fils puissant — Bali, le grand Asura — et il deviendra célèbre sous ce nom. Même le monde entier, y compris les dieux, les Asuras et les Rākṣasas, ne pourra le tuer ; et il fera choir Indra de sa souveraineté.»
(भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the instability of worldly sovereignty and the cosmic contest over power: even Indra’s rule can be overturned when a being of extraordinary might arises. It implicitly frames kingship as contingent and subject to larger moral-cosmic forces rather than mere entitlement.
Bhīṣma foretells the birth of Bali, the powerful son of Virocana, describing his near-invincibility and his future act of displacing Indra from rulership, situating Bali within the broader Deva–Asura struggle for dominion.