Shloka 20
कपोती-विलापः स्वर्गसंयोगश्च
The Dove’s Lament and Celestial Reunion
वारिधारासमूहेन सम्प्रविष्ट: शतक्रतु: । क्षणेन पूरयामास सलिलेन वसुन्धराम्,आकाशमें मेघोंकी घटाएँ घिर आयीं, विद्युन्मण्डलसे उसकी अपूर्व शोभा होने लगी। जैसे समुद्र नौकारोहियोंके समुदायसे ढक जाता है, उसी प्रकार दो ही घड़ीमें जल- धाराओंके समूहसे आच्छादित हुए इन्द्रदेवने व्योममण्डलमें प्रवेश किया और क्षणभरमें इस पृथ्वीको जलराशिसे भर दिया
vāridhārāsamūhena sampraviṣṭaḥ śatakratuḥ | kṣaṇena pūrayāmāsa salilena vasundharām ||
Bhīṣma said: Śatakratu (Indra), having entered amid dense masses of streaming rain, in a single moment flooded the earth with water.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the overwhelming efficacy of divine agency: when Indra acts, the natural world responds instantly and completely. In the ethical frame of Śānti Parva, such imagery supports the idea that order (dharma) is upheld by powers beyond human control, and that human governance should align with that larger cosmic order rather than oppose it.
Bhīṣma describes Indra entering the sky amid thick sheets of rain and, in a moment, inundating the earth with water—an image of sudden, all-encompassing rainfall that transforms the landscape immediately.