what am I to give thee?’ And Kunti too smiling in her turn, replied, ’Thou must even give me offspring.’  Then the handsome Kunti was united (in intercourse) with the god of justice in his spiritual form and obtained from him a son devoted to the good of all creatures.  And she brought his excellent child, who lived to acquire a great fame, at the eighth Muhurta called Abhijit, of the hour of noon of that very auspicious day of the seventh month (Kartika), viz., the fifth of the lighted fortnight, when the star Jyeshtha in conjunction with the moon was ascendant.  And as soon as the child was born, an incorporeal voice (from the skies) said, ’This child shall be the best of men, the foremost of those that are virtuous.  Endued with great prowess and truthful in speech, he shall certainly be the ruler of the earth.  And this first child of Pandu shall be known by the name of Yudhishthira.  Possessed of prowess and honesty of disposition, he shall be a famous king, known throughout the three worlds.’

“Pandu, having obtained that virtuous son, again addressed his wife and said.  ’The wise have declared that a Kshatriya must be endued with physical strength, otherwise he is no Kshatriya.’  Therefore, ask thou for an offspring of superior strength.  Thus commanded by her lord, Kunti then invoked 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 said to him, ’Give me, O best of celestials, a child endued with great strength and largeness of limbs and capable of humbling the pride of every body.’  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 occurred alter the birth of Vrikodara (Bhima).  While he fell from the lap of his mother upon the mountain 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 thunderbolt, falling down upon the mountain breast, broke into a 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 birthday of Duryodhana who afterwards became the ruler of the whole earth.’