Shloka 79
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
विरोचनस्य बलवान् बलि: पुत्रो महासुर:
virocanasya balavān baliḥ putro mahāsuraḥ |
भीष्म म्हणाले—“विरोचनाला एक बलवान पुत्र होईल—महासुर बली. तो त्या नावानेच प्रसिद्ध होईल. देव, असुर व राक्षसांसह सर्व लोकही त्याला मारू शकणार नाहीत; आणि तो इंद्राला राज्यातून भ्रष्ट करील.”
(भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the instability of worldly sovereignty and the cosmic contest over power: even Indra’s rule can be overturned when a being of extraordinary might arises. It implicitly frames kingship as contingent and subject to larger moral-cosmic forces rather than mere entitlement.
Bhīṣma foretells the birth of Bali, the powerful son of Virocana, describing his near-invincibility and his future act of displacing Indra from rulership, situating Bali within the broader Deva–Asura struggle for dominion.