Shloka 36
Vyāsa’s Consolation to Yudhiṣṭhira: Tapas, Kāla, and the Difficulty of Dāna (दान-तपस्-विवेकः)
पाण्डवा: प्रत्यदृश्यन्त ज्वलिता इव पावका: । फिर नाना प्रकारके दिव्य आयुध हाथमें लिये, कवच धारण करके रथोंपर आरूढ़ हो ध्वज और धनुषसे सुशोभित वे समस्त पाण्डव प्रज्वलित अग्नियोंके समान दिखायी देने लगे
vaiśampāyana uvāca | pāṇḍavāḥ pratyadṛśyanta jvalitā iva pāvakāḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: The Pāṇḍavas came into view like blazing fires. Armed with various divine weapons, clad in armour, mounted upon their chariots, and adorned with banners and bows, they appeared radiant and formidable—an image of disciplined power marshalled for a righteous purpose.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames martial strength as meaningful when disciplined and aligned with dharma: the Pāṇḍavas’ splendour is not mere display, but the outward sign of readiness to act according to kṣatriya responsibility, with power portrayed as purifying and decisive like fire.
The narrator describes the Pāṇḍavas becoming visible in a heightened, heroic tableau—armoured, chariot-borne, bearing banners and bows and (by context) divine weapons—so radiant that they resemble blazing fires, signalling an imminent confrontation or decisive action.