Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 20

Adhyāya 14: Śalya’s Missile-Pressure and the Pāṇḍava Convergence (शल्यस्य शरवर्षम्)

Devanagari script

यथा हि भगवान ग्निर्जगद्‌ दग्ध्वा चराचरम्‌

Transliteration

yathā hi bhagavān agnir jagad dagdhvā carācaram

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Just as the blessed Fire, having burned the whole world—both the moving and the unmoving—…,”

Word by Word

• यथा: just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• हि: indeed/for
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: हि

• भगवान्: the blessed/divine (one)
• भगवान्: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: भगवत्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अग्निः: fire
• अग्निः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अग्नि
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• जगत्: the world
• जगत्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: जगत्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• दग्ध्वा: having burned
• Type: Verb
• Root: दह्
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund), Parasmaipada (usage)

• चराचरम्: the moving and the unmoving (all beings)
• चराचरम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: चराचर
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Agni (Fire)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse initiates a simile of fire consuming all creation, highlighting the indiscriminate nature of overwhelming destructive power and implicitly stressing the moral weight of actions in war that can engulf both the guilty and the innocent.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya begins a comparison (yathā…) using Agni burning the entire moving-and-unmoving world as an image, setting up a description of a similarly all-consuming event or warrior’s impact in the battle narrative.