Shloka 10
बलिस्तु यजते यज्ञमश्चवमेधं महीं गतः । येडन्येडधस्था महीस्थाश्व ते न दग्धा महासुरा:,“उस समय राजा बलि पृथ्वीपर आकर अश्वमेध यज्ञ कर रहे थे। अत: जो दैत्य उनके साथ पृथ्वीपर थे और दूसरे जो पातालमें थे, वे ही दग्ध होनेसे बचे
balis tu yajate yajñam aśvamedhaṁ mahīṁ gataḥ | ye ’nyed adhasthā mahī-sthāś ca te na dagdhā mahāsurāḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “At that time King Bali had come up to the earth and was performing the Aśvamedha sacrifice. Therefore, those great Asuras who were with him on the earth, as well as the others who were stationed below in the nether regions, were the ones who escaped being burned.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the protective and status-conferring power of sacred action (yajña) and location: Bali’s presence on earth performing a royal sacrifice becomes the contextual reason some Asuras are spared, suggesting that ritual order and circumstance can shape outcomes even amid cosmic upheaval.
Bhishma explains that when a destructive burning occurred, the Asuras who were with King Bali on earth—where he was conducting an Aśvamedha—and those who remained in the lower regions were not consumed; others, by implication, were burned.