Shloka 32
पौण्ड्रक-वधः, कृत्या-प्रशमनम्, वाराणसी-दाहः
एवं भविष्यतीत्य् उक्ते दक्षिणाग्नेर् अनन्तरम् महाकृत्या समुत्तस्थौ तस्यैवाग्निनिवेशनात्
evaṃ bhaviṣyatīty ukte dakṣiṇāgner anantaram mahākṛtyā samuttasthau tasyaivāgniniveśanāt
When it was declared, “So it shall come to pass,” immediately thereafter—from the southern sacrificial fire itself, from the very place where it had been established—there rose a mighty, dread kṛtyā.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Teaching: Historical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Ritual potency divorced from righteousness becomes a source of fear and disorder rather than sanctification.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Examine intention (saṅkalpa) behind religious acts; align practice with compassion and dharma.
Vishishtadvaita: All powers (even mantra/ritual) operate within the Supreme’s dispensation; misuse reveals dependence, not autonomy, of such forces.
Vishnu Form: Krishna
FAQs
In this verse, the Dakṣiṇāgni functions as a charged ritual locus—so potent that a force (kṛtyā) can manifest directly from its established seat, showing how sacrificial order can externalize power within the narrative.
Parāśara frames it as an immediate consequence of a spoken determination (“thus it shall be”), followed by a direct manifestation from the ritual fire’s installation—linking speech, rite, and effect in a tightly causal Purāṇic sequence.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Purāṇic worldview assumes that cosmic order and the efficacy of dharma and yajña ultimately rest within Vishnu’s sovereignty, under which ritual causality and historical events unfold.