Shloka 14
Śānti-parva Adhyāya 3: Karṇa’s training under Rāma Jāmadagnya and the Bhārgava restriction on the Brahmāstra
उसके आठ पैर थे और तीखी दाढ़ें। सूई-जैसी चुभनेवाली रोमावलियोंसे उसका सारा शरीर भरा तथा रुँधा हुआ था। वह “अलर्क' नामसे प्रसिद्ध कीड़ा था ।।
sa dṛṣṭamātro rāmeṇa krimiḥ prāṇān avāsṛjat | tasminn evāsṛji klinnaḥ tad adbhutam ivābhavat ||
ৰাম (পৰশুৰাম) কেৱল চালে চাহোঁতেই সেই কৃমিয়ে তাতেই প্ৰাণ ত্যাগ কৰিলে। নিজৰেই ঝৰোৱা তেজত ভিজি, সেয়া সেই ঠাইতেই মৰিল—ঘটনাটো অদ্ভুত যেন লাগিল।
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the disproportionate moral and spiritual force attributed to a great figure’s presence: Paraśurāma’s mere glance becomes decisive. Ethically, it evokes reflection on violence and its consequences—how harm (symbolized by blood and the worm’s death) rebounds immediately, and how power, even when effortless, carries grave results.
Nārada describes a worm (identified in the surrounding prose as ‘Alarka’) that, upon being seen by Paraśurāma, instantly relinquishes its life. The creature dies on the spot, drenched in blood, and the event is presented as astonishing (adbhuta).