Shloka 56
भयंकर कर्म करनेवाले तथा अपनी महिमासे कभी च्युत न होनेवाले महात्मा रुद्रदेवकी रौद्रकर्मोद्वारा ही स्तुति करके अश्वत्थामा हाथ जोड़कर इस प्रकार बोला ।। द्रौणिस्वाच इममात्मानमपद्याहं जातमाड्रिरसे कुले । स्वग्नौ जुहोमि भगवन् प्रतिगृह्नीष्व मां बलिम्
sañjaya uvāca | bhayaṅkara-karma-karaṇe vāle tathā svamahimāse kabhī cyuta na honevāle mahātmā rudradeva kī raudra-karmodvārā hī stuti karke aśvatthāmā hātha joṛakara isa prakāra bolā || drauṇir uvāca | imam ātmānam apadya ahaṃ jātam āḍrirase kule | svagnau juhomi bhagavan pratigṛhṇīṣva māṃ balim ||
Dijo Sañjaya: Habiendo alabado a Rudra, el magnánimo—cuyas obras son terribles y cuya gloria jamás decae—invocando precisamente sus actos feroces, Aśvatthāmā, con las manos juntas, habló así. Drauṇi (Aśvatthāmā) dijo: «Tomando refugio en este mismo ser, nacido en el linaje de Āḍrirasa, me ofrezco a mí mismo en mi propio fuego. ¡Oh Señor Bienaventurado, acéptame como oblación (bali)!»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in moments of moral collapse and extreme violence, a person may seek divine sanction through ritual language—offering oneself as an oblation. It raises an ethical tension: devotion and sacrifice can be invoked even to empower fearsome acts, reminding readers to distinguish genuine dharma from self-justifying religiosity.
Sañjaya narrates that Aśvatthāmā praises Rudra’s fierce aspect and then, with folded hands, declares a self-offering into his ‘own fire,’ asking the Lord to accept him as an oblation—an act of consecration before the dreadful events of the Sauptika episode.