Shloka 286
भीष्माग्निमभिसंक्रुद्धं विगाशाय सहस्रश: । वहाँ विधातासे प्रेरित होकर पतंगोंके समान सहस्रों राजा क्रोधमें भरे हुए भीष्मरूपी प्रचण्ड अग्निमें अपने विनाशके लिये स्वयं ही आ गिरते थे
bhīṣmāgnim abhisankruddhaṃ vigāśāya sahasraśaḥ | tatra vidhātṛṇā preritāḥ pataṅgān iva sahasraśo rājānaḥ krodhabhareṇa bhīṣmarūpaṃ pracaṇḍāgnim ātmavināśāya svayam eva nipetire |
Sañjaya said: “There, driven onward by the Disposer’s decree, thousands of kings—like moths rushing toward a flame—fell of their own accord into Bhīṣma, who blazed like a fierce fire. Inflamed with anger, they plunged into that terrible conflagration only to meet their own destruction.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how anger (krodha) clouds discernment and drives people toward self-destruction, while also portraying the inexorable pull of fate (vidhātṛ). Ethically, it warns that valor without restraint and right judgment can become a path to ruin.
Sañjaya describes the battlefield scene where numerous kings, enraged and compelled by destiny, repeatedly rush against Bhīṣma. Bhīṣma is depicted as a blazing, fierce fire, and the kings are compared to moths that fly into flame—falling into his onslaught and perishing.