द्रोण उवाच
अथ पार्श्वे स्थितं विष्णुं शक्रादींश् च सुरोत्तमान् ॥
प्राह तथ्यम् इदं वाक्यं विषण्णान् सुरसत्तमान् ॥
रक्ष्या मे सततं देवाः सहेन्द्राः सद्विजातयः ॥
त्वष्टुः सुदुर्धरं तेजो येन वृत्रो विनिर्मितः ॥
त्वष्ट्रा पुरा तपस् तप्त्वा वर्षायुतशतं तदा ॥
वृत्रो विनिर्मितो देवाः प्राप्यानुज्ञां महेश्वरात् ॥
droṇa uvāca
atha pārśve sthitaṃ viṣṇuṃ śakrādīṃś ca surottamān ||
prāha tathyam idaṃ vākyaṃ viṣaṇṇān surasattamān ||
rakṣyā me satataṃ devāḥ sahendrāḥ sadvijātayaḥ ||
tvaṣṭuḥ sudurdharaṃ tejo yena vṛtro vinirmitaḥ ||
tvaṣṭrā purā tapas taptvā varṣāyutaśataṃ tadā ||
vṛtro vinirmito devāḥ prāpyānujñāṃ maheśvarāt ||
Then, to Vishnu standing at his side, and to Shakra and the other best of suras, downcast, he [Brahma] spoke this true word: "Ever protected by me are the gods, together with Indra and the twice-born. Tvashtri's hard-to-restrain ardor, by which Vritra was fashioned -- by Tvashtr, having long ago performed austerity for a hundred thousand years, Vritra was fashioned, O gods, having obtained the permission of Maheshvara."
08433b597cee · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:45:02 PM UTC
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Brahma reveals the root of the calamity: Vritra was born of "tvaṣṭuḥ tejaḥ," the ardor of Tvashtri, won by a hundred-thousand-year austerity, "prāpya anujñāṃ maheśvarāt" -- by permission of Shiva. Evil, it turns out, draws its power from tapas and from sanction from above. It is telling that even a fearsome enemy did not arise on its own, but through a weaving of austerity and permission. The verse teaches that even great evil is woven into the higher order: it draws its might from austerity and exists by permission from above -- and therefore can be overcome only by turning to the very source, to the higher will that granted it its span.