Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya: Chapter 11: Part 6

201 Viprachitti has been born as Jarasandha; Due to the boons of Brahma and Shiva, he has become invincible by every one; Fully knowing Kamsa’s excellent strength, he has happily given two of his daughters in marriage to him.
202 Jarasandha did not stop the haughty Kamsa, even though he possessed the necessary strength; There is none on earth or in Patala or in other lokas, who is a match to him in strength; Being very strong, he has kept all the Kings under his control.
203 Madhu and Kaitabha, who were earlier killed by You, have now taken birth as Hamsa and Dibika; Due to Shiva’s boon, they have become brave and invincible; In terms of devotion to Shiva, they are the best after Jarasandha.
204 Some other Asuras who were killed by You in that battle between Suras and Daityas have taken birth on Earth; Similarly, few others have gone to Andhatamas; You need to give Tamas to these people as well.
205 Kali, who was destroyed by your noble words of Shastras in Your avatara as Vyasa has now resided in people; Listening to Your words, he is appearing as if He has put a little of his mind on You.
206 The Rakshasas who were destroyed by You in Your avatara as Rama, after seeing Your strength, are believing that there is none equal to You, even though they are great sinners; They believe the same with Hanuman as well.
207 O Keshava! Those who develop respect towards You and Vayu can never be sent to Andhatamas; Therefore, please take an avatara on Earth, and deviate them from the righteous path.
208 By developing severe opposition in several ways to You, Vayu and other Devatas, Kali and the other Asuras must be cast away in Andhatamas.
209 Ravana and Kumbhakarna, who were destroyed by You, are your door keepers who have extreme avesha of great Asuras; They must be liberated from their curse by You.
210 O Lord of Lakshmi! The two Asuras who are residing in them and are Your enemies need to be cast in Andhatamas; The two devotees of You must be taken back to Your place by You.
211 The Asura Bali, who had taken shelter in King Bali and had caused great enemity against us and You has taken birth on Earth as Salva and is born as Brahmadatta’s son.
212 He has obtained from Shiva an excellent aeroplane which is magical and impregnable by everyone; You have, in Your form as Parashurama, defeated and chased him multiple times.
213 “I shall slay him in my Krishna form” – thus being Your decision, You did not kill him as Parashurama in order to make that decision come true, even though You are capable of doing so; You should now kill that great sinner.
214 After he obtained the plane, his father got the name of Soubhapati; When he was defeated by Bhishma (during the Swayamvara), Salva was still in his penance.
215 He has now finished his penance and has become a follower of Jarasandha; He, who cannot be killed by anyone else, must be killed by You; And should be cast away in Andhatamas.
216 The great Asura who had entered Bana (son of Bali) and stayed inside is well known by the name of Bana itself; He is born as Kichaka; Due to Shiva’s boon, he has become invincible and must be put into Tamas.
217 O Lord! Therefore, You must take avatara on Earth and fulfill all the work of the Devatas; O Lord of the Devatas! You are the only hope for Brahma, Rudra, Indra, Chandra, Yama and other Suras.
218 You are the eternally manifest One who has complete strength! You are the eternally manifest One who is complete knowledge personified! You are the eternally manifest One who is full of excellent and complete bliss! There is none like You; Where then can there be anyone who is greater than You?
219 Having thus been requested upon by the Devatas, the Lord Hari, Who is the ocean of noble attributes, Whose form is omnipresent and eternal, Whose form is like unlimited nectar, Who has radiance like infinite Suns and Moons, got up and started along with the Devatas.
220 Lord Hari went to Mount Meru and told the four-headed one thus – “I shall definitely take avatara in the place suggested by you; Even though I am independent, I am bound to your devotion out of my own will”.
221 Brahma bowed to Lord Hari who had given birth to him and said – “Earlier I had given some excellent cows to Varuna; Those cows, which give nectar, were taken away by Kashyapa out of arrogance that he was their father”.
222 After he was provoked by Aditi and Surabhi, Kashyapa took away the cows; Knowing all this from Varuna, I cursed him thus – “You shall be born as a Kshatriya and live as a cow-keeper”.
223 He has been born to Shura, and has innumerable cows; He is called as Vasudeva; Aditi is born as his wife Devaki; Surabhi is his other wife Rohini.
224 Therefore, You please take birth as Devaki’s son; Similarly, a Vasu by name Drona, along with his wife Dharaa, has performed a penance in order to become a father to You.
225 I have given him a boon; He has been born as Nanda; His wife has been born as Yashoda; He is born to King Shura out of a Vaishya wife; Therefore, he has become a cow-keeper.
226 These two, Devaki and Vasudeva, have also desired to obtain You as their son and have peformed a penance towards the same; Therefore, You please show Your form to them first and then proceed towards Gokula.
227 When Brahma requested thus, Lord Hari, who is the controller of Brahma and Rudra told thus – “Let it be so”; He then told the Devatas – “All of you quickly take birth in the world of humans in forms that will suit your work”.
228 Thereafter, all the Devatas took birth just like how Lord Hari told them to do so; Prior to that itself, Kubera, though he was the son of Lord Hari, took birth from the Asura Naraka.
229 The sinner Narakasura had kidnapped an elephant named Suprateeka which was given to Kubera by Rudra; Therefore, Kubera took birth as Narakasura’s son by the name of Bhagadatta.
230 He had the amsha of a great Asura and due to the presence of Rudra in him, he had great strength and knowledge of astras; He was the student of Mahendra and, after the death of his father, was engaged in his duties always.
231 There was a great Yadava warrior by name Shini; He had a son by name Satyaka; He obtained a son by name Yuyudhana who had the amsha of Garuda and was the presiding diety of Krishna Paksha.
232 He had the amsha of Samvaha, one of the Maruts and also the amsha of Lord Vishnu’s Chakra; There was a Yadava in the Bhoja vamsha known as Hrudika; The presiding diety of Shukla Paksha was born as a son to him.
233 He was a brave warrior and had the amsha of Panchajanya; He also had the amsha of Pravaha, one of the Maruts; He was named as Krutavarma; Thus, all those who were Yadavas and Gopas were Devatas themselves.
234 All those who helped the Pandavas were Devatas themselves or were followers of Devatas; Similarly, their opponents were all Asuras; Those who did not take any side and were neutral and had wavering minds were Rajasikas.
235 Having excellent devotion towards Lord Hari is the quality of Suras; The enemity of Lord Vishnu is the quality of Asuras; Therefore, those amongst these who were always engaged in the devotion of Lord Hari, all of them were either Devatas or had the special presence of Devatas.

|| End of chapter 11, known as ‘Shri Bhagavadavatara Pratijnana’, from the Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, composed by Srimadanandatirtha Bhagavatpada ||
|| Sri Krishnaarpanamastu ||

Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya: Chapter 11: Part 5

161 The King of Madra, by name Rutayana, desired to obtain a son like Indra, and also an excellent daughter, and performed a penance to Brahma to achieve this; He obtained the boon also.
162 Due to the boon of Brahma, Sahlada, the brother of Prahlada, a devotee of the Lord, along with the avesha of Vayu was born as the King’s son.
163 Due to the avesha of Vayu, and due to the boon of Brahma, he became excellent in strength on the entire earth itself; He became a Shalya (spear) to all enemies and came to be known by that name itself; The King also obtained a daughter named Madri.
164 She too was a wife of Pandu in their previous lives; She was given to Pandu in marriage; Shalya, who knew all the shastras, started ruling the Kingdom given by his father according to the rules of Dharma.
165 Pandu, having obtained these two gems of women as his wives, enjoyed comforts according to his wish; Relying on Dharma, he went along the path guided by Vidura and ruled the Kingdom while being sub-servient to his older brother.
166 Bhishma placed Dhritharashtra on the throne and made Pandu as the crown-prince; But Dhritharashtra did not rule the Kingdom citing his blindness as the reason; It was Pandu only who ruled.
167 The extraordinary hero Pandu ruled the earth listening to the words of Bhishma and Dhritharashtra; Dhritharashtra and Pandu performed Yajnas with huge amounts of wealth and worshipped the Lord with them.
168 In order to ensure that she should not be present there during the fight between Kauravas and Pandavas, Lord Veda Vyasa, the One with all excellent attributes, took His mother to His ashrama; The two daughters-in-law of Satyavati also followed her.
169 Going along the path laid by her son Lord Vyasa, Satyavati worshipped Lord Hari as her son and as the Parabrahma, and obtained salvation due to the grace of Lord Hari in the form of Vyasa; Her daughters-in-law too obtained excellent worlds.
170 The mother of Vidura, who followed Ambalika, left to the world of Brahma due to the grace of Lord Vyasa and due to the nobility of her son Vidura; In due course of time, she, who had excellent wisdom, obtained salvation.
171 Ambalika too made progress, over time, in her quest for salvation and obtained an excellent result; But Ambika did not obtain such a good result; Jeeva, who is pure knowledge, obtains eventual results in accordance with the service he performs to Lord Vishnu.
172 Later, Pandu once went to the forest after handing over the responsibility of the Kingdom to his older brother and his younger brother; Both his wives also followed him; He stayed in Badari, which was protected by Lord Narayana.
173 Even while being in Gruhasthashrama, he stayed in the forest and enjoyed the luxuries of life; He got together with the best of Sages and specially worshipped the Lord of the Universe, the Lord of Ramaa, with devotion and performed penances as well.
174 Due to the wish of the Lord, he once shot an arrow at a Sage who, by his own will, had taken the form of a deer and was engaged with his partner; He was given a curse saying – “If you come in contact with a woman, you shall die”; He was greatly pained by this.
175 When he desired to become a sanyasi, Kunti respectfully told him – “Don’t do so”; He got together with them just like earlier and stayed on the Shatashrunga mountain, opposite the middle part of Narayana Ashrama.
176 Believing in the Lotus feet of Lord Krishna, Pandu got together with them, and started performing a very tough penance; He started taking bath in the water of the Ganga, which had become pristine due to contact with the feet of Lord Krishna, and purified himself very much.
177 At the same time, Indra and the other devatas, keeping Brahma and Shiva in front, along with Bhudevi who could not tolerate the attacks of the evil-personified Daityas, went to the resort of the Lord Narayana, the Lord of the Lords, the Guru of Brahma, the One whose body is verily the six auspicious attributes, the One who is resting on Sesha in the milky ocean and the One who is the embodiment of matchless joy.
178 Brahma and the other devatas chanted the praise of the Lord, the One with infinite capabilities, the Supreme Personality, with the Purusha Sukta and said thus – “O Lord! the Supreme One! Bhudevi is very pained due to the attack of the great Daityas; The fact that those extreme sinners do not even lift their eyes and see you is the cause of her pain”.
179 “On Lord! the One filled with activity and other attributes! The company of evil is always a burden on the noble people; O Lord! Therefore please listen to our prayers; The Daityas whom you had killed earlier for our sake have all taken birth on the earth now”.
180 Earlier, a battle between the best of the Devatas and the Daityas had taken place; Having the best of elephants, horses, chariots and foot-soldiers, the army of the Devatas was 100 Mahougha Mahougha Akshouhini in size; It had excellent astras in its armoury; The army of the Daityas was more than that by a Mahougha; It had boulders, hills and great astras; It was terrifying.
Note: One Mahougha is 10 to the power of 60.
181 Their chariots too were bigger than multiple ‘nalvas’; They possessed excellent bows and arrows as well; Those Devatas and Asuras, who had variety of clothes and jewels, and excellent weapons, rushed towards each other quickly.
Note: One Nalva equals 400 arm-length measures.
182 The two armies fought against each other with big boulders, their hands, legs, fists and great weapons; A mahougha rivers of blood flowed; A hundredth of the Asura’s army was destroyed by the all powerful Devatas.
183 Then, having noticed the destruction of his army, an Asura named Shambara, who possessed many illusions due to Shiva’s boon, surged forward causing unbearable illusions to the Devatas.
184 The Devatas were very distraught at the thousands of illusions causing by Shambara; Chandra, Surya and others became very dejected; Seeing them, Devendra, the beholder of the Vajra, employed a Vaishnava illusion known as ‘paramaa’ which was given to him by Brahma.
185 Due to the boon of Lord Vishnu, that illusion, which could destroy all illusions, and which could never be countered, destroyed all the illusions caused by Shambara; Varuna, Agni, Chandra and other Devatas were all freed.
186 The valor of the brave Yama, Chandra, Surya and other Devatas was increased by the act of Devendra and they started killing the Asuras; The beholder of the Vajra, Indra, killed Shambara with the Vajrayudha.
187 When the ruler of the Danavas, Shambara, was thus killed, all the Daityas started running away being scared of Indra; At that time, Viprachitti picked up his bow and stopped them from running away and surged against Indra and the other Devatas.
188 Viprachitti, who had become indefeatable due to the boon of Brahma, brought down many Devatas with his arrows; Indra lost his consciouness; Seeing that, Lord Vayu immediately stopped him with a flood of arrows.
189 Stopping his weapons by his own, Vayu smashed his golden mace against his heart; That extremely strong Viprachitti, having been hit by the strength of Vayu, was crushed and fell down on the Meru mountain.
190 Later, Kalanemi came rushing; Previously, Brahma, by your orders, had given him a boon that he would not be defeatable by anyone; That Asura had a thousand heads and two thousand hands.
191 Seeing him rush towards him, Vayu recalled that he had received a boon from Brahma, as per Your orders only, that he should be killed only by You; You, the One with infinite valor, then appeared in form there.
192 Cutting off his arms and heads, You quickly handed him, the one who was raining weapons from his arms and covering the entire earth with it, the one who had a big body, over to Yama.
193 Those Asuras died that way; You killed three-fourths of them; Vayu killed a fourth of them; Getting together with Dharma and strength, all of them have taken birth on earth now.
194 Having been born in excellent lineages as Kings, they have obtained clean and a dharmic mindset; Having obtained upadesha from excellent brahmins, they have even developed some devotion towards You.
195 A person who has an iota of devotion towards You, and follows the path of truth should never obtain a bad ending; O Lord, the One who always makes the truth! But the Daityas should always obtain Andhatamas, shouldn’t they?
196 With the fear of having to accept Dharma as untrue, and with the fear that good may happen to Daityas, we are pleading with you to mislead them quickly from the path of following the truth and from having devotion towards You.
197 O Lord! A Gandharva by name Ugrasena has taken birth, to serve You, with the same name in the lineage of the Yadus; The Asura Kalanemi has taken birth as his son.
198 That Kalanemi, who was not killed by Vayu even though he was fully capable, due to your grace, of doing so, in order to obtain Your love, has taken birth in the lineage of Bhoja; Due to Shiva’s boon, he has become invincible by others.
199 Due to an illusion, Dramila, who took the form of Ugrasena and is born in the family of Gandharvas, gave birth to Kalanemi in Ugrasena’s wife; His name is Kamsa; Due to the power of boons, he even won the Lord of Shachi (Indra).
200 Having won against Varuna, he has taken away precious gems from him; Having won against the Yakshas of Shiva, who were deputed by Jarasandha to take care of his girls, he has kidnapped those girls forcefully as well.

Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya: Chapter 11: Part 4

122 Vichitravirya, having obtained the two wives, excessively enjoyed life with them for many years; Due to this, he contracted the ‘Kshaya’ disease and left the body; Immediately, his mother Satyavati remembered Lord Veda Vyasa.
123 Immediately upon remembering, Lord Veda Vyasa, the father of the world, the One who cures devotees from birth and samsara, the One who takes away the fear of old age, the One who has complete knowledge as His body, the One who is the ocean of joy, appeared immediately; Satyavati, His mother, welcomed Him with great respect and worshipped Him.
124 Bhishma and others worshipped Him with great respect; They praised Him with devotion; Later, His mother Satyavati said – “Both my sons have died; Even though I am asking repeatedly, Bhishma is refusing to accept the Kingdom”.
125 “Therefore, all of us request You with utmost respect to give birth to excellent progeny through the wife of Your brother Vichitravirya” – the mother said thus; Bhishma and others too prayed and requested the same; Then, the Guru of the world spoke thus.
126 “Apart from Mahalakshmi, there is no other woman, even in Deva Loka, who qualifies for coming in contact with me; Still, I shall get your word done; For that to happen, let her observe my Vrata for one year”.
127 “Due to the Vaishnava Vrata, she will obtain purity of the body and then she can obtain an excellent son by me” – when Lord Veda Vyasa said so, Satyavati said that if that (the delay) happens – “The nation will get destroyed”; Lord Veda Vyasa then spoke again.
128 “Even though I am very soft mannered, I shall show an extremely scary form of mine; If she tolerates it, she will give birth to a son who will have all good attributes and will be strong and valorous”.
129 When He said thus, Satyavati said – “Let it be so”; Lord Veda Vyasa then went to Ambika; She though closed her eyes out of fear; A gandharva named Dhrutharashtra, along with the presence of Vayu, was born to her.
130 He got the name of Dhrutharashtra and became known as very strong due to the presence of Lord Vayu; Lord Veda Vyasa gave him a boon so he could become extremely powerful; But, due to the mistake of his mother, he was (born) blind.
131 Having noticed that he is blind, Satyavati again requested Lord Vyasa – “Please give birth to a noble son in Ambalika”; Lord Vyasa did exactly as her request; But Ambalika saw the terrible form of Lord Vyasa and, out of fear, turned very pale.
132 Then, a Marut named Paravaha was born; He was very pale in color; He became known as Pandu (pale colored one) and, due to the Avesha of Vayu, he became excellent in strength; He also learnt all the astras and weapons.
133 He too was granted boons by Lord Vyasa to obtain special strength and valor; After that, Satyavati, noticing that he was of pale color, requested (Lord Vyasa) again – “Please give birth to a son who is free from defects”.
134 Having requested Lord Vyasa thus, Satyavati told her daughter-in-law again – “You closed your eyes the last time; Therefore, your son was born blind; So, you serve Lord Vyasa once again with devotion”.
135 Even though she said thus, Ambika, due to Lord Vyasa’s decision, and due to her ill-thinking, got scared and deputed her maid; The maid made contact with Lord Vyasa, the excellent One, the ocean of attributes and the One with bliss as His body, and had great joy!
136 Yamadeva, the Devata of Dharma, was born out of her; Due to the curse of Sage Mandavya, he obtained the birth of a Shudra; Yama had obtained that curse by his own wish so he could disrupt the penance of Sage Mandavya who was desiring to equal Sage Vashishta.
137 Sage Mandavya was put on a spear as he had desired to obtain a position for which he did not qualify; The circumstance of pointing out thieves when they had looted money was just an excuse; Yama had told him that the actual reason was that he had killed a fly.
138 Yama did not end up lying because the sin of harming (the fly) was also one of the reasons; In order to obtain the curse, he just narrated that reason and obtained the curse; Lord Vyasa gave him his name; He also granted him knowledge of all subjects.
139 “Since he is well versed in knowledge, he will be known as Vidura; He will be full of knowledge and strength; He will also be a great archer and possess excellent strength in the shoulders; He will be a very noble man” – Lord Vyasa spoke thus.
140 Realizing that he was a Shudra, Satyavati prayed to Lord Vyasa once again and requested Him – “Please give birth to another son in Ambalika”; Lord Vyasa did not agree; He vanished from there as well.
141 Later, Bhishma got all the samskaras, as per the shastras, done for all three of them through Munis; Lord Vyasa bestowed them all the knowledge; Bhishma taught Pandu all the astras and weapons.
142 The three of them became well versed in all skills; Vidura especially became known as knowledgeable in everything; Pandu became acquainted with all astras, became one of the best warriors on earth and won the entire earth with his bow.
143 Similarly, Tumburu, the Lord of the Gandharvas, was born as Sanjaya to a Suta named Gavadgana; He also had the presence of a Marut named Udvaha and had complete control over his senses.
144 He was the son of Vichitravirya’s Suta; He was close to all three of them; Being Lord Vyasa’s student, he knew everything; He was very intelligent; He used to especially follow Dhritharashtra.
145 Dhritharashtra married the daughter of Subala, the King of Gandhara, who was named Gandhari; She was the older sister of Shakuni; Shakuni was the avatara of Dwapara, a Daitya who presides over Atheism and is responsible for all ill acts.
146 Prutha was the daughter of Shura; She had excellent attributes, good conduct and had great beauty; She was given by her father to his friend Kuntibhoja as an adopted daughter; Hence she was known as Kunti; She was the wife of Pandu even in the previous life.
147 Kuntibhoja was the avatara of a Marut named Kurma; He had brought up Kunti very well; Once, Sage Durvasa, the avatara of Shankara and one who possessed great anger, came to him; “Give me a place to live” – he said.
148 The King requested the sage thus – “Kunti, the young lady, will serve you to the best of her ability; You can definitely stay here if you will kindly pardon any mistakes committed by her”; The Sage said – “Let it be so”; The King immediately ordered Kunti to serve the Sage.
149 Kunti served that Sage, who always had a bad temper, with her work, words and mind, in such a way that was impossible for anyone else.
150 Having been served by her very well for thirteen years, the Sage gave her a mantra that granted her the ability to appease all the Gods.
151 In her season, she purified herself and, in order to test the mantra, invited Surya; He immediately arrived.
152 Even though she requested in multiple ways, Kunti was unable to send back Surya without engaging with him; Surya made contact with her.
153 Surya took avatara in her in a second form, decked with a kavacha and divine ear-rings, and radiating with his Tejas.
154 Since he had commited the big sin of getting Vali killed earlier, he was born along with the presence of an asura named Sahasravarma.
155 Just like how the intelligence of humans is spoilt by the presence of pisachas, similarly the intelligence of the avatara of Surya was defective due to the avesha of the daitya.
156 Even then, since he had worshipped Lord Rama (as Sugreeva), he had the presence of Lord Hari in him; Since he had extremely beautiful ears, he got the name of Karna.
157 Due to the fear of allegations by people, Kunti quickly placed him in a small boat filled with jewels and left him such that he reached the waters of Yamuna.
158 As he was going along the force of the river, the son of a Suta saw him; He accepted him along with the jewels, and made him his son.
159 Karna was taken care of by the Suta Adiratha; His wife Radhe brought him up very well; Later, he studied all the Shrutis and the Shastras; He was known as being very strong right from his childhood and he lived under the glory of his noble attributes; His name became ‘Vasushena’; Didn’t wealth verily stay with him?
160 That Kunti was handed over to King Pandu; He enjoyed life with her for a long time; Vidura married a noble lady called Aruni, who was born to a Shudra woman by King Shura.

Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya: Chapter 11: Part 3

81 Shantanu, the best amongst Kings, granted the boons of death by wish, non-defeat in battle and not being subjugated to enemies, to Bhishma and enjoyed life with Satyavati for many years.
82 Shantanu obtained through her, a son named Chitrangada, and another son named Vichitravirya; When they were still young, he gave up his body thinking – “Of what use is this aged body to me anymore?”
83 He gave up his body due to his own wish and obtained the post of Varuna; In those times, people (the Tapasvis) never gave up their body without desiring to do so, unless they were killed by those stronger than themselves.
84 Those who over indulge in enjoying material pleasures, and those who live without Tapas, die out of other causes even if they do not desire so; Just like how Chitrangada’s younger brother died.
85 Then, Bhishma finished the post-death rituals of his father and coronated the brave Chitrangada on the throne; He placed his younger brother as the crown-prince.
86 Refusing to give up his name, Chitrangada, who was yet unmarried, got killed in a big battle with a Gandharva named Chitrangada.
Note: A Gandharva named Chitrangada objected to the same name being shared by Bhishma’s brother. He challenged him to a duel or demanded that he change his name. Chitrangada, the King, refused to change his name and preferred to fight, and ended up being killed.
87, 88 Having placed Vichitravirya on the throne, Bhishma started to take care of the Kingdom; The brave Bhishma then kidnapped and brought Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, the three daughters of the King of Kashi, even as Brahmadatta was about to take them, by defeating that Salva King and also the other Kshatriyas who had gathered there.
89 Among them, the excellent Ambika and Ambalika agreed to it (the kidnapping); But Amba, who was Bhishma’s wife in the previous life, did not consent.
90 Due to Brahma’s curse, she declared that she desired the King of Salva; Bhishma sent her back to Salva, without conducting her marriage.
91 Salva rejected her accusing her of being taken by another man; She came back to Bhishma again; He too did not accept her; She then went to Lord Parashurama.
92 Over here, Bhishma got Ambika and Ambalika married to his brother Vichitravirya; In order to grant success to Bhishma, Lord Parashurama fought a battle with him.
93 Due to compassion over Bhishma, He did not kill him even though He possesses infinite strength; Neither did He make him accept Amba.
94 He has infinite strength; He is inside of everyone; He knows it all; He has everything under His control; He wins over everybody; There is none who is a match for Him, in any which way; How then can He lack strength (to win)?
95 In order to fill His devotee Bhishma with success, and in order to confuse the Asuras, Lord Parashurama did not kill Bhishma, even though He won over him; He made the words of His devotee come true.
96 The Supreme Lord shows up as having been beaten, confused and suffering from pain only to delude the Asuras; Lord Vishnu can never become like that; With the confirmation from statements from the Puranas like these, (we can infer that) Lord Parashurama is always victorious.
97, 98 Lord Parashurama granted fame to Bhishma and liberated Amba from the sin of having taken enemity with her original husband and united her with him after she was born as Shikhandi; Then, Amba performed a penance to Lord Shiva in order to kill Bhishma and obtain masculinity.
99 Lord Parashurama made His own promise of uniting Amba with Bhishma come true once Bhishma obtained his original form.
100 Lord Shiva became pleased with her penance and granted her the boon of becoming the cause of Bhishma’s death and that of obtaining masculinity over time.
101 He also gave her a garland and said that the person who wears the garland would kill Bhishma; Amba took that garland and went to various Kings.
102 Due to the fear of Bhishma, no one accepted it; Finally, she kept it at the door of Drupada’s house and left her body with the strength of Yoga.
103, 104 At the same time, Drupada performed a penance to Lord Shiva in order to obtain a son; Shiva told him – “You shall obtain a girl child who shall later turn into a man”; Later, Amba was born to him as Shikhandini; Drupada performed all samskaras to her as if she were a male.
105 The King of Panchala, Drupada, hid her in the dress of a man and later got her married to the daughter of the King of Dashaarna.
106 The daughter of the King of Dashaarna got to know the fact that she was a female, a fact that no one apart from her parents knew till then; She revealed that to her elderly maid who told it to her father.
107 That King of Dashaarna got extremely angry and sent a message to the King of Panchala saying – “I shall kill you along with all your relatives”; He started off with his army too.
108 Placing confidence in the words of Shiva, Drupada, the son of Prushata, sent back a sarcastic message saying – “My offspring is indeed a male; Sigh to you! Your mind is spoilt by the words of ignorant people; How can you rule a Kingdom when you cannot even examine things before taking action?”.
109, 110 Later, Shikhandini, noticing that her father along with her mother are both troubled, decided that they should not suffer harm due to her and went away to a forest out of sorrow; There, a Gandharva by name Tumburu, was living under the name of Sthoonaakarna as he had very strong ears.
111 He listened to her entire story and, out of a large heart, showed compassion on her; He gave her his body and took over her body; In order to ensure she obtains masculinity, he stayed in his donated body as an amsha.
112 Men can obtain feminity sometimes; Even then they will be only men in the end; But women, even under extreme circumstances, will not obtain masculinity.
113, 114 Therefore, even though she had Shiva’s boon, Amba was born as a female only and not as a male; Later too, she entered a male body which had a male in it but her body did not obtain masculinity; She did not reside in a male body as a male Jiva; Having entered the body of the Gandharva, which had the presence of the Gandharva also, she went back home.
115 Due to the grace of the Gandharva, the body in which she resided resembled her own body.
116 ” You return my body back to me tomorrow; Then, you get back to your body”- having said thus, the Gandharva resided in the feminine body; He stayed back in the forest; Kubera then came there.
117 Kubera cursed the Gandharva, who hid in the bushes out of embarassment and did not stand up and wish him, thus – “You stay in this manner for a long time”.
118, 119 “The woman who is in your body will die in battle and only then you shall regain your masculinity; All this is due to your inappropriate action” – having been told thus, the Gandharva started living there itself; That lady narrated the entire episode in detail to her parents; They became very pleased.
120, 121 Her father-in-law examined her using various methods and (having failed to prove her feminity) returned back embarassed; The next day, Shikhandini went back to the Gandharva and, according to his words, came back with the masculine body itself; Later he came to be known as Shikhandi and became a very valorous warrior with astras and weapons.

Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya: Chapter 11: Part 2

41 “O auspicious lady! If the true reason can befall my ears, do let me know” – When he requested thus, she narrated everything to him and left.
42 Once their true form is revealed, it is not Dharma for Devatas to stay for long amidst humans; Devatas stay amongst humans only for special reasons.
43, 44 Once they complete that reason, they immediately leave; That is how their Dharma is; Even when they are born as humans, they will be sometimes invisible, will not be touched by anyone, and not talk much to anyone – that is the secret Dharma of Devatas; Therefore, even though Shantanu was her first husband Varuna himself, she left him and went back to Varuna Loka.
45 Having given up the job of killing, she obtained the permission of her husband and left along with her eighth son and handed over that son to Brihaspati.
46 Devavrata, having been left with Brihaspati for learning purposes by his mother, studied all the Vedas for fifty years, while having fully placed his heart with the Guru.
47 After that his mother left him with Lord Parashurama, the One superior to all in the world, the One who is propagated by the infinite Vedas, the One who is the ocean of all auspicious attributes, the One who is the Lord of the Bhrigu lineage; Devavrata listened to all the truth revealing shastras for fifty years from Him.
48 After that, Devavrata studied the art of weapons for another twenty five years from Lord Parashurama, the Lord of the Bhrigu lineage; After that, his mother brought him to her banks in order to hand him over to his father.
49 Devavrata stopped the flow of the river Ganga with a maze of arrows and rested there; Shantanu, who came there to quench his thirst during hunting, was surprised to see Ganga dried up.
50 Shantanu then started searching for the reason behind that; He then saw his son resting there with his weapons; As soon as he saw his father, Devavrata became invisible.
51 When Shantanu was thus engaged in thinking, Ganga brought the son to him and said thus while handing him over – “He is your son; He knows the best of the astras; He is full of valor and strength; I shall hand him over to you”.
52 “His older brothers have left their bodies in my waters, which are purified by the lotus feet of Lord Hari, and have joined their original forms; Do not grieve over them; Stay happily with him”.
53 In this way, Ganga handed him over and went invisible; Shantanu went home along with him; Later, he coronated him as the crown prince and, fully satisfied with his noble attributes, enjoyed immensely.
54 Having obtained the permission of his father, Devavrata studied the Vedas under Brihaspati for a duration equal to half a man’s lifetime; Similarly, he studied the astras once again under Lord Parashurama for the same duration and then studied the tattvas under Him for a duration of 300 years, as per human measurement of time.
55 Devavrata obtained expertise over all skills from Lord Parashurama, the Lord of all knowledge and the ocean of all attributes; He then went to his father and happily served him.
56 Around the same time when Ganga had given birth to the eighth child, Shantanu had once been to the forest for hunting and had seen twin children, one boy and the other girl, born without having stayed in a womb and fathered and then deserted by Sage Sharadvan.
57 Once when Sage Sharadvan was performing penance, he had seen Urvashi by mistake; Then, he had ejaculated and that had fallen into the woods.
58 Vishkambha, one of the Rudras, was born that way in order to serve Lord Hari in His activity of reducing the earth’s burden; Similarly, the wife of Brihaspati, Taraa, was also born.
59, 60, 61 Seeing both of them, Shantanu took them home out of compassion; Since they had received his kripa (compassion), he named them Kripa and Kripi; Kripa performed a penance to appease Lord Vishnu; Then, Lord Vishnu, the Lord of all worlds, became pleased with him and made him one of the Sapta Rishis for the next Manvantara; He also granted him life till the end of the Manu Kalpa; Kripa stayed in Shantanu’s house and became Devavrata’s friend.
62, 63 Kripa was like a son to Shantanu; He too took care of the twins just like his own children; Kripa learnt astras from Sage Koushika (Vishwamitra); He studied all the Vedas and also learnt all the Shastras; Similarly, he learnt the true philosophy from Lord Vyasa and obtained the knowledge of everything.
64 Around the time Kripa was born, Sage Bharadhwaja, the son of Brihaspati, once went to the river Ganga for bathing; There, he saw Ghritachi, the woman of joy for the best Devatas, when her silk dress slipped down.
65 Due to her sight, he ejaculated and placed the semen in a Drona (bowl); From that, Brihaspati, along with the avesha of the lotus-born Brahma, was born in order to serve Lord Hari in His work of reducing the weight on this earth.
66 The father named him as ‘Drona’; Along with the entire shastras, he made him study all the Vedas; He too quickly obtained expertise over all subjects.
67 Around the same time, Prushata, the king of Panchala, who did not have any progeny, was performing a big penance in the woods; He then saw an excellent apsara and immediately his semen flowed out.
68 Due to embarassment, he hid it with his feet; A son was born to him out of it; He was a singer of Brahma named Hoohoo; He also had the presence of one of the Maruts called Avahana.
69 He learnt all the Vedas, astras and all other knowledge from Sage Bharadhwaja, the father of Drona, along with Drona himself; Once he told the guru-putra Drona thus – “Let us rule the kingdom together”.
70 Since he was hidden by the feet, he was named as ‘Drupada’; Later, he obtained the kingdom as well; Drona married Kripi, who was by origin his wife as well and, having given up even receiving of alms, he led a peaceful life in the city.
71 Following the excellent dharma of Shila and Uncha, he lived a pure life in Hastinapura without any defects; And he became a friend of Devavrata and Kripa.
Note: The dharma in which remaining pulses and cereals are collected from fields after the farmers have harvested their crops is known as Shiloncha Vrutti.
72 King Virata was also of the same age as these; He was by origin a singer in Brahma’s court by name Hahaa; He also had the presence of a Marut called Vivaha; He was engaged in the dharma that was appropriate for him.
73 Once, when King Shantanu went hunting, he saw an excellent lady; She was the daughter of Pitrus in her previous life and she had performed an excellent penance for a long time to please Lord Vishnu.
74 Lord Vishnu had given her a boon saying – “I shall be born as your son”; She was born to Vasu and was brought up in Daasharaja’s home; Lord Vishnu took avatara in the form of Vyasa in her.
75 Shantanu developed a liking for her after seeing her and he asked Daasharaja to give her to him; Daasharaja did not desire to give her to him unless her son was given the Kingdom; After that, Shantanu returned to his home.
76 Noticing the face of his father being very dull with her thought, Devavrata immediately asked his charioteer the reason for the same; After getting to know everything, he went to Daasharaja’s house.
77 In order to make Daasharaja believe, Devavrata took an oath stating – “I shall not rule the Kingdom; Similarly, there is no need to fear that my progeny shall rule the Kingdom; I shall always remain celibate”.
78 Devatas named him as “Bhishma” due to the tough vow that he had undertaken and showered flowers on him; Devavrata brought Satyavati over and handed her to his father.
79 Bhishma married her off to his father knowing fully well that she was the daughter of a King, full of auspicious attributes and excellent one, and was also the mother of Lord Vishnu, the One who is Satya himself, and was known in the world as Satyavati.
80 “Since the mind of noble people does not usually wander in the path of sin, if my mind has gone towards her, she has definitely been brought up in the home of Daasharaja (and not born to her)” – knowing thus, the noble Shantanu, who is always in the path of Dharma, accepted her.

Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya: Chapter 11: Part 1

|| OM namo bhagavate vasudevaya OM ||

1 Pururavas was born from Budha, the son of Chandra; He had a son named Ayu; Ayu’s son was Nahusha; Yayati was born as son to Nahusha; Yayati had two wives and five sons who had special devotion towards the feet of Lord Vishnu.
2 Yadu and Turvasu were born out of Devayani; The daughter of Vrushaparva, Sharmishta, gave birth to Druhya, Anu and Pooru.
3 In the lineage of Yadu, the emperor Kartaveeryaarjuna was born; Due to the grace of the Dattatreya form of Lord Vishnu, he had obtained the capability of Yoga.
4 In his lineage, the Yadus, who had taken shelter under Lord Vishnu, were born; In the lineage of Puru, the emperor and devotee of Lord Vishnu, Bharata, was born.
5 Kuru was born in this Bharata’s lineage; In his line, Prateepa was born; To Prateepa were born three capable sons who were like the three fires.
Note: The three fires are Aahavaneeya, Gaarhapatya and Dakshina.
6 Devapi, Bahlika and the best in terms of qualities, Shantanu, were the three sons; Due to a skin disease, Devapi went off to a forest to perform penance.
7 Due to the grace of Lord Vishnu, he will become the King in the next Kruta Yuga; The excellent King Bahlika went off due to the Putrikaputra arrangement and became the King of Bahlika.
8 Bahlika was Prahlada, the son of Hiranyakashipu, the one dear to the Lord, the one with the special presence of Vayu, and the one who was extremely powerful.
9, 10 As soon as he was born, the earth split sharply; He was born as the son of Prateepa and the King of Bahlika in order to serve Lord Vishnu by participating in the reduction of the load on the earth (elimination of all evil); Patratapa, who was one of the Rudras, was born as his son Somadatta.
11, 12, 13 Three of the Rudras, namely Ajaikapath, Ahirbudhni and Virupaksha, were born as Somdatta’s three sons Bhuri, Bhurishravas and Shala; They were very famous and were born for the service of Lord Vishnu; Because of the presence of Shiva and all the other Rudras, and due to Shiva’s boon, Bhurishravas, among the three, was the most powerful and best archer; Somadatta had performed a penance to Shiva with that same request.
14, 15 “One who shall defeat all your enemies; One who is full of valor, strength and other qualities; One who will perform the Yajnas and have my presence in him – such a son, named Bhurishravas, will be born to you” – saying thus, Shiva had granted him a boon. Because of this, Somadatta had a very powerful son named Bhurishravas.
16 Once upon a time, the lotus-born Brahma had gone to the eastern coast; Then, the ocean, who was joined by the river Ganga, increased his tides and sprayed a drop of water on Brahma; Brahma then cursed him.
17 “You shall be born as a King named Mahabhishak and later as Shantanu; This Ganga shall be your wife in that birth as well”.
18 “Since you became ‘shaanta’ after I asked you to calm down, you shall be known as Shantanu”; After he was told thus, Varuna became the King Mahabhishak and was always resorting to the feet of Lord Hari.
19 In that birth, he ruled the earth for a long time and then gave up his body and reached the assembly of Brahma; There, when the Devatas had gathered together once, he saw his wife Ganga when her cloth had slipped off.
20 All the Devatas sat with their heads down; But he kept looking at Ganga; Brahma then told him thus – “Just like I had cursed you earlier, you shall immediately be born on earth again”.
21 When he was told thus, he immediately was born as King Shantanu to Prateepa; He had Ganga as his wife and enjoyed life for many years.
22 The eighth Vasu had a name called “Dyu” as well; He had a wife named Varangi; She had a friend with the same name; She was the wife of a King called Suvinda.
23 In order to rid her friend of old age and death, Varangi coaxed her husband to catch Nandini, a cow belonging to Sage Vashishta, which used to give excellent Amruta nectar.
24 Being influenced by her, the Dyu named Vasu got together with his 7 brothers and tied that cow; The lotus-born lord Brahma, who was present inside of Sage Vashista, cursed them.
25 “All of you who ventured into Adharma shall be born in the womb of humans; He, for whose sake all of you left the path of Dharma, shall have the lifetime of all eight of you; The others shall obtain liberation quickly”.
26 “Varangi, who engaged her husband in the wrong path, shall be born as Amba amongst humans; She shall not have a husband and shall resort to acquiring masculinity to become a reason for her husband’s death”.
27 “Let him go through strict celibacy; Let there be enmity between the two of them; Let him sleep on a bed of arrows and undergo the pain of 8 stays in the womb”.
28 “Let him undergo the pain of 8 deaths by being cut through by weapons”; Once they were told thus, the Vasus realized that it was Brahma who cursed them and released the cow and bowed to him.
29 “Let us not experience getting into the womb of a human; Let him (Dyu) become a knowledgeable person by having your presence in him; Let him become very well known and great warrior; Let him have all our strength”.
30 When they prayed thus, Brahma, who was inside of Sage Vashishta, said “So be it”; Then, they approached Ganga and requested her thus – “We shall be born in your womb; Please then kill us immediately”.
31 Ganga, when requested thus, immediately asked them boons to ensure she did not collect any sin from it and to remain dear to them and also to have one son who will have a long life; Later, she had them as sons through Shantanu.
32 In order to ensure that they were killed without any hindrances, Ganga approached Prateepa first and acted as if she liked him and sat on his right thigh; Even though she did not have any desire to marry him, she did so to ensure she married his son Shantanu.
33 “Since you sat on my right thigh, you become a wife to my son; The right thigh is for the daughter and daughter-in-law; The left thigh is famous as the one for the wife” – Prateepa told thus to her.
34 Ganga then told him – “Your son should not question me as to who I am; Even if I perform certain actions which are not appropriate, he should not stop me; He should neither ask me the reason behind those actions”.
35 “Even if one of the three is done, I shall desert your son and leave” – When Ganga said so, the King said – “So be it”.
36 In that way, he narrated the words of the divine river Ganga to his younger son Shantanu; Because Ganga had told him – “I shall take your third son as my husband, and not any of your other sons”.
37 After that, Ganga had eight sons from Shantanu and killed the first seven of them; Having decided to leave from there, she acted as if she was about to kill the eighth son.
38 Devatas do not obtain joy staying along with humans; Therefore, Ganga had decided to leave from there; She did not have the body of a human; But Shantanu’s body was born out of humans only.
39 Shantanu stopped her as she was about to kill his son – “Who are you? For what reason are you killing our sons like a Rakshasi?”.
40 “You have the form of a divine Devata lady; Therefore this work of yours cannot be sinful; There must be a big reason in this”.