Shloka 20
भीष्मस्य मध्याह्नयुद्धवर्णनम् / Mid-day Battle Description: Bhīṣma Engaged by the Pāñcālas
भीमसेनस्तु सम्प्रेक्ष्य पुत्रांस्तव जनेश्वर । प्रजज्वाल रणे क्रुद्धो हविषा हव्यवाडिव
sañjaya uvāca | bhīmasenas tu samprekṣya putrāṁs tava janeśvara | prajajvāla raṇe kruddho haviṣā havyavāḍ iva ||
قال سانجيا: يا سيد الرجال، لما أبصر بهيماسينا أبناءك اشتعل غضبًا في ساحة القتال—كما تتأجج نار القربان إذا غُذّيت بالسمن المصفّى. لقد غدت رؤية الكاورافا وقودًا يزيد عزيمته وسخطه في عمل الحرب، وهو عملٌ عادلٌ لكنه مروّع.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how powerful emotions—especially wrath—can be intensified by their immediate causes, just as fire grows when fed with ghee. In the ethical frame of the Mahābhārata, it also suggests that the accumulated consequences of adharma can ignite fierce retaliation in a dharma-bound conflict.
Sañjaya describes Bhīma on the battlefield: upon seeing Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons (the Kaurava warriors), Bhīma’s anger surges and he ‘blazes’ in combat readiness, compared to a sacrificial fire flaring up when offered ghee.