Shloka 71
Indrajit’s Binding, Restoration by Viśalyā, and Counsel Restraining Rāvaṇa (Āraṇyaka Parva 273)
असतां निग्रहार्थाय धर्मसंरक्षणाय च । अवतीर्णो मनुष्याणामजायत यदुक्षये,स एवं भगवान् विष्णु: कृष्णेति परिकीर्त्यते । अनाट्यन्तमजं देवं प्रभुं लोकनमस्कृतम् ७२ ।। “राजन! वे ही भगवान् विष्णु दुष्टोंका दमन और धर्मका संरक्षण करनेके लिये मनुष्योंके बीच यदुकुलमें अवतीर्ण हुए हैं। उन्हींको श्रीकृष्ण कहते हैं। वे अनादि, अनन्त, अजन्मा, दिव्यस्वरूप, सर्वसमर्थ और विश्ववन्दित हैं
bhīmasena uvāca | asatāṁ nigrahārthāya dharma-saṁrakṣaṇāya ca | avatīrṇo manuṣyāṇām ajāyata yadukṣaye, sa eva bhagavān viṣṇuḥ kṛṣṇeti parikīrtyate | anādyantam ajaṁ devaṁ prabhuṁ loka-namaskṛtam ||
Bhima said: “For the restraint of the wicked and for the safeguarding of dharma, that very Lord Viṣṇu descended among human beings and was born in the Yadu lineage. He is celebrated as ‘Kṛṣṇa’—the beginningless and endless, unborn, divine Lord, all-powerful and revered by the worlds.”
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the avatāra principle: the Supreme Lord takes birth among humans to restrain wrongdoing and to preserve dharma, affirming Kṛṣṇa’s identity with Viṣṇu and his transcendent nature (beginningless, endless, unborn) despite appearing in history.
Bhīma is praising and identifying Kṛṣṇa as none other than Bhagavān Viṣṇu, explaining why he manifested in the Yadu line—namely, to curb the wicked and protect dharma—thereby framing Kṛṣṇa’s role as divinely purposeful within the epic’s moral order.