Shloka 21
सौप्तिकपर्व — धृष्टद्युम्नसारथिवृत्तान्तः
Report of the Night Raid and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament
महाचमूकक्षदवाभिपन्नं महाहवे भीष्ममयाग्निदाहम् । ये सेहुरात्तायुधती&णवेगं ते राजपुत्रा निहता: प्रमादात्,“महासमरमें भीष्मरूपी अग्नि जब पाण्डव-सेनाको जला रही थी, उस समय ऊँची ध्वजाओंके शिखरपर फहराती हुई पताका ही धूमके समान जान पड़ती थी, बाण-वर्षा ही आगकी लपछें थीं, क्रोध ही प्रचण्ड वायु बनकर उस ज्वालाको बढ़ा रहा था, विशाल धनुषकी प्रत्यंचा, हथेली और रथके पहियोंका शब्द ही मानो उस अग्निदाहसे उठनेवाली चट-चट ध्वनि था, कवच और नाना प्रकारके अस्त्र-शस्त्र उस आगकी आहुति बन रहे थे, विशाल सेनारूपी सूखे जंगलमें दावानलके समान वह आग लगी थी, हाथमें लिये हुए अस्त्र-शस्त्र ही उस अग्निके प्रचण्ड वेग थे, ऐसे अग्निदाहके कष्टको जिन्होंने सह लिया, वे ही राजपुत्र प्रमादवश मारे गये
mahācamūkṣadavābhipannaṁ mahāhave bhīṣmamayāgnidāham | ye sehurāttāyudhatīvravegaṁ te rājaputrā nihatāḥ pramādāt ||
Sūta said: In that great battle, when the vast army was seized by a wildfire-like conflagration—Bhīṣma himself as the very fire—those royal sons who endured the fierce onrush of weapons in his blazing assault were later slain through heedlessness.
सूत उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that courage and endurance in crisis are not sufficient by themselves; pramāda (heedlessness) can nullify hard-won survival. Ethically, it stresses vigilance, disciplined attention, and the danger of complacency even after facing great trials.
The narrator (Sūta) describes Bhīṣma’s battlefield onslaught as a wildfire consuming an army. Those princes who withstood the intense, weapon-driven force of that ‘Bhīṣma-fire’ were nevertheless later killed because they became negligent—suggesting a subsequent lapse in alertness after surviving the main danger.