Dhik balam kshatriya balam, balam brahmana balam

Mahabharata Adiparva Chaitrarathaparva section 178

Sri Sadgurubhyoh Namah

There was a king by name Gadhi, ruler of Kanyakubja. He had a son named Vishwamitra. He, with a large army, was hunting in a forest and lost his way. He was famished by the time he reached a serene hermitage. That hermitge belonged to Sage Vashishta, who has taken a vow of forgiveness. Vishwamitra pays respect to Sage, who in turn invites him and his large army for food and rest at his hermitage. Vishwamitra, thinking that the sage cannot feed a large army with his limited resources, refuses him. But on the insistence of Vashishta, he accepts the invitation.

The sage has a wish yielding cow named Nandini. on the command of the sage, Nandini produced all kinds of delicious dishes for the entire army of the king. After having food, Vishwamitra requests that Nandini be given to him. Sage says "this is the only wealth I have. Please do not rob me of it". Vishwamitra in his pride, says, "If I want I can forcefully take this away, what can a poor brahmin like you do?" and orders his troops to drag the cow. The cow Nandini starts to cry piteously, and breaks free of the chain and goes and stands in front of the Sage. Vashishta expresses his helplessness to protect the cow from the army of the king. The Nandini asks sage whether he wishes her to stay. Sage says 'if you can stay, please stay. I cannot fight, I have taken a vow of forgiveness, I forgive the king even this shameful act of robbing a poor brahmana of his wealth'.

Then, the cow Nandini, on hearing the words 'stay', produces a huge army out of its body parts. From her tail rose an army of pahllavas, from udder, dravidas and sakas. An army of Yavanas rose from her womb, savaras from dung. Kanchis rose from her urine. From the froth of her mouth, rose paundras and kiratas, yavanas, and sinhalas and all kinds of Mlechcha armies. They outnumber Vishwamitra army by 6 to 1. When this army of Mlechchas attacked the king's army, they fled out of fear a full 30 miles.

On witnessing the power of Brahmana, Vishwamitra became dejected with the power of arms, and decides there and then that he should acquire such power for himself. He says 'Dhik balam kshatriya balam, balam brahma balam' , meaning, 'The force of arms is nothing in comparision to the power of a brahmana'.

He embarked on a journey to become brahmana, and after severe penances and several attempts, finally became a brahmana, known throughout the world as 'Vishwamitra', menaing 'friend of universe'.

Hari OM