[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Epic, Poetry, Drama & Narrative](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit) › [The Mahābhārata and its versions](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata) › [The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) › 13.15.3 # The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 13.15.3 Mahābhārata 13.15.3 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [13.15.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.15.3) kṛṣṇa uvāca | abruvaṃ tamahaṃ brahmaṃstvatprasādānmahāmune | drakṣye ditijasaṃghānāṃ mardanaṃ tridaśeśvaram || 3 || > "The blessed Vishnu continued, 'I then said unto him, O regenerate one, through thy grace, O great ascetic. I shall behold the lord of the deities, that grinder of multitudes of Diti's sons. Eight days, O Bharata, passed there like an hour, all of us being thus occupied with talk on Mahadeva. On the eighth day, I underwent the Diksha (initiation) according to due rites, at the hands of that Brahmana and received the staff from his hands. I underwent the prescribed shave. I took up a quantity of Kusa blades in my hand. I wore rags for my vestments. I rubbed my person with ghee. I encircled a cord of Munja grass round my loins. For one month I lived on fruits. The second month I subsisted upon water. The third, the fourth and the fifth months I passed, living upon air alone. I stood all the while, supporting myself upon one foot and with my arms also raised upwards, and foregoing sleep all the while. I then beheld, O Bharata, in the firmament an effulgence that seemed to be as dazzling as that of a thousand Suns combined together. Towards the centre of that effulgence, O son of Pandu, I saw a cloud looking like a mass of blue hills, adorned with rows of cranes, embellished with many a grand rainbow, with flashes of lightning and the thunder-fire looking like eyes set on it. Within that cloud was the puissant Mahadeva. himself of dazzling splendour, accompanied by his spouse Uma. > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - [Previous: 13.15.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.15.2) - [Next: 13.15.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.15.4) - [Up: 13.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.15) ## Translations (1) - [The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa~en-ganguli.13.14.17.1) — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, English ## Commentaries (5) - [Jñānadīpikā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!devabodha) — Devabodha, Sanskrit - [Bhāratabhāvadīpa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!nilakantha) — Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara, Sanskrit - [Lakṣaślokālaṅkāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!vadiraja) — Vādirāja, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārataṭīkā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!nilakantha-mahabharatatika) — Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, Sanskrit - [Lakṣābharaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!vadiraja-laksabharana) — Vādirāja Sūri, Sanskrit ## Other recensions (1) - [Vulgate (Nīlakaṇṭha's text)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*vulgate.13.14.378) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.15.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.15.3) · Pramāṇa