Shloka 41
Adhyāya 31: Rājasūya-samāgama — The Gathering of Kings and the Ordering of Hospitality
सहदेव उवाच त्वदर्थो5्यं समारम्भ: कृष्णवर्त्मन् नमोस्तु ते । मुखं त्वमसि देवानां यज्ञस्त्वमसि पावक
sahadeva uvāca | tvadartho ’yaṃ samārambhaḥ kṛṣṇavartman namo ’stu te | mukhaṃ tvam asi devānāṃ yajñas tvam asi pāvaka ||
Sahadeva said: “This undertaking is meant for you alone, O Kṛṣṇavartman; homage to you. You are the mouth of the gods, O Pāvaka; you are the very form of sacrifice.”
सहदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches reverence for Agni as the divine mediator of sacrifice: honoring the sacred fire is treated as honoring the gods and sustaining dharma through properly directed ritual action.
Sahadeva addresses the sacred fire during a ritual context, declaring that the undertaking is meant for it and praising it as the gods’ ‘mouth’—the channel through which offerings reach the divine—and as the embodiment of the sacrifice itself.