वैशंपायन उवाच
एवम् उक्त्वा ततो बाहुं प्रगृह्य पुरुषादकः ॥
अभ्यधावत संक्रुद्धो भीमसेनम् अरिंदमम् ॥
तस्याभिपततस् तूर्णं भीमो भीमपराक्रमः ॥
वेगेन प्रहृतं बाहुं निजग्राह हसन्न् इव ॥
निगृह्य तं बलाद् भीमो विस्फुरन्तं चकर्ष ह ॥
तस्माद् देशाद् धनूंष्य् अष्टौ सिंहः क्षुद्रमृगं यथा ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
evam uktvā tato bāhuṃ pragṛhya puruṣādakaḥ ||
abhyadhāvata saṃkruddho bhīmasenam ariṃdamam ||
tasyābhipatatas tūrṇaṃ bhīmo bhīmaparākramaḥ ||
vegena prahṛtaṃ bāhuṃ nijagrāha hasann iva ||
nigṛhya taṃ balād bhīmo visphurantaṃ cakarṣa ha ||
tasmād deśād dhanūṃṣy aṣṭau siṃhaḥ kṣudramṛgaṃ yathā ||
Vaishampayana said: "Having said this, the man-eater, raising his arm, rushed, enraged, upon Bhimasena, tamer of foes. As he attacked swiftly, Bhima, terrible in valor, caught, as if laughing, the swiftly raised arm; and seizing him by force, Bhima dragged him, thrashing, the length of eight bows from that spot, as a lion drags a small beast."
c9e9aa5534a9 · published Jul 12, 2026, 5:09:57 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here Bhima's superiority is shown — without effort and without fear. Telling is the phrase "as if laughing": what for the man-eater is fury and onslaught, is for Bhima an easy matter; such is the strength of the son of Vayu. Telling is the comparison too: the rakshasa, who thought himself the mightiest, becomes in Bhima's hands a "small beast" before a lion; pride is broken in the very collision. Might granted from above and placed in the service of dharma is unconquerable by evil: the demon, for all his fury, is powerless before the righteous. Thus scripture shows that the outcome is decided not by boasting but by the truth of strength; and Bhima's calm in the midst of battle is the mark of his unquestionable superiority.