Shloka 22
Adhyāya 123 — Droṇa’s Pedagogy: Arjuna’s Preeminence, Ekalavya’s Self-Training, and the Bhāsa-Lakṣya Trial
इन्द्रो हि राजा देवानां प्रधान इति नः श्रुतम् अप्रमेयबलोत्साहो वीर्यवानमितद्युति:
vaiśampāyana uvāca | indro hi rājā devānāṃ pradhāna iti naḥ śrutam | aprameya-balotsāho vīryavān amita-dyutiḥ | mayā tapasā taṃ toṣayitvā mahābalī putraḥ prāptavyaḥ | sa me yaḥ putraṃ dāsyati sa niścayena sarvaśreṣṭho bhaviṣyati | sa saṃgrāme māṃ pratiyoddhṝn manuṣyān manuṣyetarāṃś ca (daitya-dānava-ādīn) hantum api samarthaḥ bhaviṣyati | ato 'haṃ manasā vācā karmaṇā ca mahā-tapas cariṣyāmi |
वैशम्पायन उवाच—इन्द्रो हि राजा देवानां प्रधान इति नः श्रुतम्। अप्रमेयबलोत्साहो वीर्यवानमितद्युतिः॥ तं तपसा तोषयित्वा महाबलं सुतं लभे। स दत्तः सुतो मे नूनं सर्वश्रेष्ठो भविष्यति॥ संग्रामे च प्रतिपक्षान् मनुजान् अमनुजान् अपि। दैत्यदानवमुख्यान् च हन्तुं शक्तो भविष्यति॥ तस्मादहं मनोवाक्कायैः घोरं तप उपासे॥
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the epic idea that disciplined austerity (tapas), aligned through mind, speech, and action, is a potent means to seek divine favor; it also raises an ethical tension: spiritual practice is directed toward acquiring extraordinary martial power, showing how ascetic merit can be harnessed for worldly aims in the Mahābhārata.
The narrator reports a resolve to propitiate Indra through severe austerities in order to obtain a supremely powerful son—one who would be unrivaled and able to defeat even formidable non-human adversaries such as Daityas and Dānavas in battle.