Vayu. And the mighty god of wind, thus invoked, came unto her, riding upon a deer, and said, 'What, O Kunti, am I to give thee? Tell me, what is in thy heart? Smiling in modesty, she told him, 'Give me, O best of celestials, a child endued with great strength and largeness of limbs and capable of humbling the pride of everybody!' The god of wind thereupon begat upon her the child afterwards known as Bhima of mighty arms and fierce prowess. And upon the birth of that child endued with extraordinary strength, an incorporeal voice, O Bharata, as before, said, 'This child shall be the foremost of all endued with strength.' I must tell you, O Bharata, of another wonderful event that occured on the birth of Vrikodara (Bhima). Falling from the lap of his mother upon the ɯountain's breast, the violence of the fall broke into fragments the stone upon which he fell without his infant body being injured in the least. And he fell from his mother's lap, because Kunti, frightened by a tiger, had risen up suddenly, unconscious of the child that lay asleep on her lap. And as she had risen, the infant, of body hard as the thunder-bolt, falling down upon the mountain's breast, broke into an hundred fragments the rocky mass upon which he fell. And beholding this, Pandu wondered much. And it so happened that that very day on which Vrikodara was born, was also, O best of Bharatas, the birth-day of Duryodhana, who afterwards became the ruler of the whole earth.
"After the birth of Vrikodara, Pandu again began to think, 'How am I to obtain a very superior son who shall achieve world-wide fame? Everything in the world dependeth on Destiny and Exertion. But Destiny can never be fulfilled except by timely exertion. It hath been heard by us that Indra is the chief of the gods. Indeed, he is endued with immeasurable might and energy and prowess and glory. Gratifying him with my asceticism, I shall obtain from him a son of great strength. Indeed, the son he giveth me must be superior to all and capable of vanquishing in battle all men and creatures other than men, I shall, therefore, practise the severest austerities with heart, deed, and speech.'
"After this, the Kuru king Pandu taking counsel with the
