Shloka 696
Daiva–Puruṣakāra Discourse and the Elephant-Corps Engagement (भीमगजानीक-सम्भ्रान्ति)
भीमसेन: प्रजज्वाल क्रोधेनाग्निरिवैधित: । कलिंगराजके बाणोंसे आहत हो भीमसेन अंकुशकी मार खाये हुए हाथीके समान क्रोधसे जल उठे, मानो घीकी आहुति पाकर आग प्रज्वलित हो उठी हो
sañjaya uvāca | bhīmasenaḥ prajajvāla krodhenāgnir iva edhitaḥ | kaliṅgarājakaiḥ bāṇaiḥ āhataḥ bhīmasenaḥ aṅkuśa-māra-khāyita iva hastī krodhena jajvāla, ghṛtāhuti-prāpta iva agniḥ prajvalitaḥ |
Sañjaya said: Struck by the arrows of the king of Kaliṅga, Bhīmasena blazed with wrath, like a fire fed and kindled. Like an elephant goaded by the stroke of a hook, he flared in anger, as though a flame had leapt higher upon receiving an offering of ghee.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger, once triggered by harm and provocation, rapidly intensifies—like fire fed with fuel or ghee. Ethically, it warns that krodha can magnify destructive action in war, and that inner restraint is crucial even for a warrior.
Sanjaya describes Bhima being struck by the Kalinga king’s arrows. In response, Bhima’s wrath surges; he is compared to a fire flaring up and to an elephant enraged by the sting of an elephant-goad, signaling an imminent, more ferocious counterattack.