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

और मैं बलि—जो दैत्यों में श्रेष्ठ है और जिसे देवता भी अवध्य मानते हैं—उसे पातालतल में निवास कराऊँगा। फिर त्रेतायुग में भृगुकुल-शिरोमणि राम (परशुराम) होकर प्रकट होऊँगा और सेना तथा वाहनों से सम्पन्न क्षत्रिय-वंश का उच्छेद कर दूँगा।

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.