Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 21
तस्य तैरभवयुद्धं शाल्वैरपि बलोद्धतैः । पाताले पन्नगेन्द्रस्य गन्धर्वैरिव दुर्मदैः
tasya tairabhavayuddhaṃ śālvairapi baloddhataiḥ | pātāle pannagendrasya gandharvairiva durmadaiḥ
তখন বলগর্বে উন্মত্ত সেই শাল্বদের সঙ্গে তার ভয়ংকর যুদ্ধ শুরু হল—যেমন পাতালে নাগরাজের সঙ্গে দুর্মদ গন্ধর্বদের যুদ্ধ হয়।
Sūta (Lomaharṣaṇa) (deduced)
Scene: A dense battlefield: the protagonist facing Śālva warriors ‘swollen with strength’; the poet’s simile overlays a mythic vision of Gandharvas clashing with the serpent-lord in Pātāla—suggesting subterranean gloom, jeweled nāga hoods, and fierce celestial fighters.
FAQs
When pride and aggression rise, conflict becomes intense and destabilizing—echoed through cosmic imagery.
None; Pātāla is a cosmological realm used as a poetic comparison, not a pilgrimage site here.
None; the verse is descriptive and metaphorical.