Shloka 24
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 178 — Royal Contestants Assemble; Cosmic Witnesses; The Bow Remains Unstrung
ददृशु््राह्मणीं तेडथ दीप्यमानां स्वतेजसा । अथ गर्भ: स भित्त्वोरुं ब्राह्माण्या निर्जागम ह,उन्होंने देखा, वह ब्राह्मणी अपने तेजसे प्रकाशित हो रही है। उसी समय उस ब्राह्मणीका वह गर्भस्थ शिशु उसकी जाँघ फाड़कर बाहर निकल आया
dadṛśur brāhmaṇīṁ te ’tha dīpyamānāṁ svatejasā | atha garbhaḥ sa bhittvoruṁ brāhmaṇyā nirjagāma ha ||
They then beheld the Brahmin woman, radiant with her own innate splendor. At that very moment, the child in her womb burst forth, tearing through her thigh, and emerged—an extraordinary and ominous birth that signals the force of tapas and destiny overriding ordinary bodily law.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata theme that spiritual potency (tejas born of dharma and tapas) and destiny can manifest in extraordinary, even unsettling ways; ethical life is not merely social convention but a cosmic force capable of reshaping events.
Vasiṣṭha narrates that observers see a Brahmin woman glowing with her own radiance, and immediately her unborn child violently emerges by splitting her thigh—marking an exceptional birth that foreshadows an unusual role or consequence in the story.