Shloka 18
भीष्म–रामसंयुगनिवृत्तिः
Bhishma and Rama: Restraint and Withdrawal in the Engagement
चितां कृत्वा सुमहतीं प्रदाय च हुताशनम् । प्रदीप्तेडगनौ महाराज रोषदीप्तेन चेतसा
citāṃ kṛtvā sumahatīṃ pradāya ca hutāśanam | pradīpte 'gnau mahārāja roṣadīptena cetasā ||
Bhīṣma said: “Having built a very large funeral pyre and then kindled the fire, O great king, he cast (the offering) into the blazing flames—his mind inflamed with wrath.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger (roṣa) can dominate the mind and drive one toward destructive, irreversible acts, even when performed through socially recognized rites. It implicitly warns that ethical discernment is lost when the heart is ‘inflamed’ by wrath.
Bhīṣma describes a scene in which a large pyre is prepared and the fire is kindled; in that blazing fire, an offering is made while the agent’s mind is burning with anger—signaling a tense, violent, or retaliatory context within the unfolding events of Udyoga Parva.