Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 71
Varuṇābhiṣeka–Agni-anveṣaṇa–Kaubera-tīrtha
Varuṇa’s Consecration; Search for Agni; Kaubera Sacred Site
महाराज! अमित तेजस्वी स्कन्दके द्वारा शक्तिका बारंबार प्रयोग होनेसे पृथ्वीपर प्रज्वलित उल्का गिरने लगी ।। संह्ादयन्तश्न तथा निर्घाताश्चापतन् क्षितौ । यथान्तकालसमये सुघोरा: स्युस्तथा नूप
mahārāja! amita-tejasvī skandhake dvārā śakteḥ bāraṃbāra prayogena pṛthivyāṃ prajvalitā ulkā nipetūḥ। saṃhrādayantaś ca tathā nirghātāś cāpatann kṣitau। yathāntakāla-samaye sughorāḥ syus tathā nṛpa॥
O king, as the exceedingly radiant Skanda repeatedly hurled the Śakti, blazing meteors began to fall upon the earth. Thunderous roars and crashing detonations struck the ground, as if the dread signs of the world’s final hour had arrived.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how repeated, intensified violence produces not only physical destruction but also a sense of cosmic imbalance—war’s moral and karmic burden is portrayed through terrifying natural portents, as if the world itself protests.
Vaiśampāyana describes that Skandhaka keeps using a spear again and again, and as a result blazing meteors and thunderous crashes fall upon the earth, resembling dreadful end-of-time omens during the battle setting of the Śalya Parva.