Shloka 15
Adhyāya 123 — Droṇa’s Pedagogy: Arjuna’s Preeminence, Ekalavya’s Self-Training, and the Bhāsa-Lakṣya Trial
सर्वेषां बलिनां श्रेष्ठो जातो5यमिति भारत । इदमत्यद्भुतं चासीज्जातमात्रे वृकोदरे
sarveṣāṃ balināṃ śreṣṭho jāto ’yam iti bhārata | idam atyadbhutaṃ cāsīj jātamātre vṛkodare ||
ಹೇ ಭಾರತ! ಅಶರೀರವಾಣಿ ಹೇಳಿತು— “ಈ ಬಾಲಕನು ಎಲ್ಲ ಬಲವಂತರಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠನಾಗಿ ಜನಿಸಿದ್ದಾನೆ.” ಮತ್ತು ವೃಕೋದರನು ಜನಿಸಿದ ಕ್ಷಣದಲ್ಲೇ ಅತ್ಯದ್ಭುತ ಘಟನೆ ಸಂಭವಿಸಿತು.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames extraordinary strength as a divinely signaled destiny: Bhīma’s might is not merely physical but a foretold quality, suggesting that great capacities carry a larger role within the moral and narrative order (dharma) of the epic.
The narrator reports a heavenly proclamation at Bhīma’s birth, declaring him the foremost among the strong, and introduces that an astonishing event occurred immediately upon his being born.