Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 14
बदरपाचन-तीर्थमाहात्म्यम् | Badarapācana Tīrtha Māhātmya
Indratīrtha and the Austerities of Srucāvatī & Arundhatī
नष्टो न दृश्यते यत्र शमीगर्भे हुताशन: । लोकालोकविनाशे च प्रादुर्भूते तदानघ
naṣṭo na dṛśyate yatra śamīgarbhe hutāśanaḥ | lokālokavināśe ca prādurbhūte tadānagha ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “There, where the fire hidden within the womb of the śamī tree cannot be seen, and when, at that time, the destruction of light and darkness—the ordered world—has manifested, O sinless one.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse evokes an image of hidden fire and the collapse of the normal order of light and darkness, suggesting a time when what sustains order becomes concealed and destructive forces become manifest—an ominous marker of moral and cosmic disarray often associated with the devastation of war.
Vaiśampāyana continues a descriptive passage using portent-like imagery: fire that exists but is not visible (as in the śamī) and a manifested ‘destruction of light and darkness,’ intensifying the sense that an extraordinary, catastrophic condition has arisen.
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