Shloka 5
Kaṃsa’s Council of Asuras and the Strategy Against the ‘Powerful Child’
किम् आदित्यैः सवसुभिर् अल्पवीर्यैः किम् अग्निभिः किं वान्यैर् अमरैः सर्वैर् मद्बाहुबलनिर्जितैः
kim ādityaiḥ savasubhir alpavīryaiḥ kim agnibhiḥ kiṃ vānyair amaraiḥ sarvair madbāhubalanirjitaiḥ
“Apa perluku pada Āditya dan Vasu yang lemah dayanya? Apa perluku pada Agni? Dan apa perluku pada semua dewa lain, sedangkan semuanya telah ditundukkan oleh kekuatan lenganku sendiri?”
A proud king/warrior-figure within the dynastic narrative (spoken in a boastful challenge; framed by Parāśara’s narration to Maitreya)
FAQs
They represent major classes of Vedic deities and cosmic functions; the verse heightens the speaker’s boast by claiming superiority even over these renowned divine powers.
In the Purana’s storytelling mode, such boasts typically signal royal hubris and set up a corrective turn where cosmic order reasserts itself under higher divine law.
Even when gods appear overpowered in a story, Vaishnava theology maintains that devas function within Vishnu’s supreme sovereignty; worldly might cannot ultimately overturn the universal order sustained by the Supreme Reality.