Bhima's rage at the insult is calmed by Bhishma
Hearing Shishupala's insults, Bhima erupts in fury, his body transforming with rage. He is about to leap at the Chedi king when Bhishma's powerful arm and commanding words hold him back, forcing the furious warrior to obey.
Bhimasena heard every one of Shishupala's harsh, insulting words. The powerful Pandava, supreme among strong men, was consumed by anger.
The change in him was visible to every king in the assembly. His eyes, naturally large like lotuses, dilated and turned copper-red. He knit his brows so fiercely that three deep furrows appeared on his forehead, like the three-coursed Ganga river flowing down three mountain peaks. His face, with teeth gnashed together, looked like destiny itself about to consume all beings at the end of a cosmic age.
He was about to spring up — to cross the space between them in a swift, violent arc.
The strong-armed Bhishma restrained him.
It was a physical and verbal act, like Ishvara (the supreme lord) checking Mahasena (the war-god Kartikeya). Bhishma held him and spoke, using various words to calm the storm of his anger. Bhima, that destroyer of enemies, was soon pacified. He could not transgress Bhishma's command. The source text compares him to the ocean, swollen after the rains, that never crosses the shoreline. Though furious with Shishupala, Bhima remained steadfast in his manliness, not trembling. He kept jumping up internally, a lion of rage, but outwardly he obeyed his elder. To Shishupala, he now paid no more mind than a lion gives to small deer.
Shishupala saw Bhima held in check and saw an opportunity for more mockery. "O Bhishma! Let him go," he taunted. "Let all these lords of men watch him consumed by my power, like moths before a flame."
On hearing this fresh provocation from the king of Chedi, Bhishma, supreme among the Kurus and supreme among the intelligent, turned from restraining Bhima and prepared to speak.