Shloka 84

धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)

Devanagari script

साथ ही सम्पूर्ण देवताओंके लिये अवध्य श्रेष्ठ दानव बलिको भी पातालतलका निवासी बना दूँगा ।।

Transliteration

sātha hī sampūrṇa-devatābhyaḥ avadhyaḥ śreṣṭha-dānavaḥ balir api pāṭāla-tala-nivāsīṃ kariṣyāmi || tretā-yuge bhaviṣyāmi rāmo bhṛgu-kulodvahaḥ | kṣatraṃ cotsādayiṣyāmi samṛddha-bala-vāhanam ||

Translation

De plus, je reléguerai Bali—le premier des Daityas, tenu pour invincible par tous les dieux—à demeurer dans le monde souterrain. Et, dans l’âge Tretā, je naîtrai comme Rāma, l’illustre rejeton de la lignée de Bhṛgu (Paraśurāma), et j’extirperai l’ordre des Kṣatriyas, quand bien même il abonde en armées et en montures. Le passage peint une intervention divine réglée par les âges : lorsque le pouvoir devient oppression et que le dharma s’obscurcit, une puissance supérieure se manifeste pour contenir et rétablir l’ordre moral, fût-ce par une correction sévère.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'sampūrṇa-devatābhyaḥ', 'definition': 'for all the gods

• in the sight of the entire host of deities'}, {'term': 'avadhyaḥ', 'definition': 'invulnerable, not to be slain'}, {'term': 'śreṣṭha-dānavaḥ', 'definition': 'the foremost of the Dānavas/Daityas (powerful anti-god beings)'}, {'term': 'baliḥ', 'definition': 'Bali, the famed Daitya king'}, {'term': 'pāṭāla-tala', 'definition': 'the netherworld region (Pātāla)'}, {'term': 'tretā-yuge', 'definition': 'in the Tretā Yuga (the second of the four world-ages)'}, {'term': 'bhaviṣyāmi', 'definition': 'I shall become / I shall be born'}, {'term': 'rāmaḥ', 'definition': 'Rāma

• here specifically Paraśurāma (Bhārgava Rāma)'}, {'term': 'bhṛgu-kulodvahaḥ', 'definition': 'the upholder/glory of the Bhṛgu lineage'}, {'term': 'kṣatram', 'definition': 'the Kṣatriya order

• the warrior-ruling class'}, {'term': 'utsādayiṣyāmi', 'definition': 'I shall extirpate, uproot, destroy'}, {'term': 'samṛddha', 'definition': 'prosperous, well-equipped, abundant'}, {'term': 'bala-vāhanam', 'definition': 'having armies and vehicles/mounts

Speaker

(भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Bali
• Devatāḥ (the gods)
• Pātāla
• Tretā-yuga
• Rāma (Paraśurāma / Bhārgava Rāma)
• Bhṛgu-kula
• Kṣatriya (kṣatra)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse presents the idea that when worldly power—whether demonic sovereignty (Bali) or a militarily dominant warrior order (kṣatra)—oversteps dharma, a higher corrective force may intervene across the yugas to restore moral balance, even through harsh measures.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker (Bhīṣma) recounts a divine resolve: Bali will be made a resident of Pātāla, and in the Tretā age the same power will manifest as Bhārgava Rāma (Paraśurāma) to annihilate the Kṣatriyas, despite their great military resources.