Mahabharata — Virata Parva, Shloka 26
Adhyāya 14: Sudēṣṇā Sends Sairandhrī to Kīcaka’s House (सुदेष्णा–सैरन्ध्री–कीचक संवादः)
“वरारोहे! तुम अपने संगमरूपी मेघसे आत्म-समर्पणरूपी वर्षाद्वारा इस प्रज्वलित मदनाग्निको बुझा दो ।।
varārohe! tvaṁ ātmā-samarpaṇa-rūpiṇā varṣeṇa sva-saṅgama-rūpaṁ meghaṁ kṛtvā imāṁ prajvalitāṁ madanāgniṁ nirvāpayā. maccitto unmādanakarā manmathasya śarotkarāḥ | tvatsaṅgamāśā-niśitās tīvraḥ śaśinibhānane | māṁ vidārya hṛdayam idaṁ nirdaya-vegītāḥ ||
“O lady of noble ascent, O moon-faced one! Let the cloud of your union pour down the rain of self-surrender and quench this blazing fire of desire within me. The volleys of Manmatha’s arrows, which drive my mind into frenzy, have been whetted on the keen edge of hope for your embrace; they have grown unbearably sharp. Ruthless and swift, they have torn open my heart and plunged within, producing a delirium of passion. Only you, by granting yourself in union—like a healing medicine—can rescue me here.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is not a dharma-injunction but a poetic depiction of kāma’s overpowering force: desire can seize the mind, sharpened by hope, and feel like a violent inner assault. It also shows how persuasion in love uses metaphor (fire, cloud, rain, medicine) to frame union as relief and ‘rescue,’ revealing the psychological mechanics of longing.
A man, overwhelmed by erotic longing, addresses a woman with honorific epithets (‘varārohā,’ ‘moon-faced’) and pleads for union. He describes Kāma’s arrows as having become sharper through his hope of meeting her, piercing his heart and causing delirium, and he asks her to save him by granting herself—likened to a cooling rain and a healing medicine.