Shloka 4
Karṇa’s Counsel on Śrī
Fortune) and the Proposed Display before the Exiled Pāṇḍavas (कर्णवचनम् / श्रीप्रदर्शन-प्रस्तावः
अग्निरुवाच कथं मां त्वं विजानीषे कामारतमितरा: कथम् | यास्त्वया कीर्तिता: सर्वाः सप्तर्षीणां प्रिया: स्त्रिय:,अग्निने पूछा--देवि! तुम तथा दूसरी सप्तर्षियोंकी सभी प्यारी स्त्रियाँ, जिनके विषयमें अभी तुमने चर्चा की है, कैसे जानती हैं कि मैं तुमलोगोंके प्रति कामभावसे पीड़ित हूँ
agnir uvāca kathaṁ māṁ tvaṁ vijānīṣe kāmārtaṁ itarāḥ katham | yās tvayā kīrtitāḥ sarvāḥ saptarṣīṇāṁ priyāḥ striyaḥ ||
Agni said: “How do you know that I am tormented by desire? And how do the others know? All those beloved wives of the Seven Sages whom you have just mentioned—how have they come to know that I am afflicted with passion toward you all?”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical tension between kāma (desire) and restraint: even a powerful being like Agni acknowledges being overpowered by passion and questions how such inner agitation becomes known, pointing to the moral scrutiny that accompanies lapses in self-control—especially in a r̥ṣi-centered, dharma-oriented setting.
Within Mārkaṇḍeya’s narration, Agni speaks directly, asking how the addressed woman knows of his desire and how the other women—identified as the beloved wives of the Seven Sages—also know. The line functions as a probing question that advances the episode’s tension around concealed desire becoming publicly recognized.