Shloka 33
Indrajit’s Binding, Restoration by Viśalyā, and Counsel Restraining Rāvaṇa (Āraṇyaka Parva 273)
निर्दहन् नागलोकांश्षव पातालतलचारिण: । अथान्तरिक्षे सुमहन्नानावर्णा: पयोधरा:,“फिर पातालतलमें विचरण करनेवाले नागलोकोंको भी वे भस्म कर डालते हैं। कालाग्निद्वारा सब कुछ भस्म हो जानेपर आकाशमें अनेक रंगके महान् मेघोंकी घोर घटा घिर आती है
nirdahan nāgalokān śva-pātālatala-cāriṇaḥ | athāntarikṣe sumahān nānāvarṇāḥ payodharāḥ |
Bhīmasena said: “Burning up even the serpent-worlds—those Nāgas who move about in the nether regions—(the fire consumes all). Then, when everything has been reduced to ashes by the fire of Time, a vast, terrifying mass of clouds of many colors gathers in the sky.”
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the overwhelming power of Kāla (Time): even hidden, mighty realms like Nāgaloka in Pātāla are not beyond destruction. It evokes impermanence and the ethical humility that arises from recognizing that all conditioned existence is subject to dissolution.
Bhīma is describing a catastrophic, end-of-cycle scene: a consuming fire spreads so thoroughly that it burns even the subterranean serpent-realms; after everything is reduced to ashes, immense multicolored storm-clouds gather in the sky, intensifying the ominous atmosphere.