And Bhishma, son of Shantanu, of boundless radiance, was born to Ganga from the seed of [one of] the Vasus, mighty in valor, greatly renowned. [There lived] also an ancient sage, no thief, [yet] impaled upon a stake on suspicion of theft, renowned [as] Animandavya, of surpassing glory. That great sage, summoning [the god] Dharma, said to him: 'In childhood I pierced a little bird with a reed. That sin I remember, O Dharma; no other sin do I remember. For that — now repaid a thousandfold — why did my austerity not overcome it? [Since] the slaying of a brahmin is graver than the slaying of [any] other being, for this sin [which you have repaid beyond measure] you shall be born in the womb of a shudra.' By that curse [the god] Dharma, learned, sinless, [himself] dharma incarnate, was born in the womb of a shudra in the form of Vidura. Sanjaya, resembling a sage, a suta, was born from Gavalgana. From [the god] Surya (the Sun), to the maiden Kunti was born the great warrior Karna, bearing armor born with him, [his] face illumined by earrings. And Vishnu, honored by the worlds, for the sake of grace to the worlds, appeared from Vasudeva to Devaki, greatly renowned. He is the god without beginning or end, the creator and lord of the world; the unmanifest, imperishable Brahman, the primal substance, [by nature] beyond the gunas; the unchanging Atman, the supreme nature and source, the Purusha, all-creating, [abiding] in goodness, firm and imperishable; the boundless, unmoving god, Hamsa, Narayana, the lord, the ordainer, unaging, eternal — him they call the supreme, the imperishable. That all-pervading Purusha, the creator, the grandsire of all beings, for the increase of dharma was born among [the clans of] Andhaka and Vrishni. And Satyaki, and Kritavarman, [both] masters of weapons, devoted to Narayana, were born from Satyaka and Hridika. The seed of Bharadvaja, having spilled forth, grew in a vessel (drona); from this, to that great sage of fierce austerity, Drona was born. To Sharadvata, [descendant] of Gautama, from a clump of reeds was born a twin — the mother of Ashvatthaman [Kripi] and mighty Kripa; then from Drona was born Ashvatthaman, best of those who bear weapons.