Shloka 82
Śiva-stavarāja: Upamanyu’s Preface and Initiation of the Śarva-Nāma Enumeration
Anuśāsana-parva 17
महामेघनिवासी च महाघोरो वशी कर: । अग्निज्वालो महाज्वालो अतिधूम्रो हुतो हवि:
mahāmeghanivāsī ca mahāghoro vaśī karaḥ | agnijvālo mahājvālo atidhūmro huto haviḥ ||
Vāyu-deva berkata: “Ia bersemayam di tengah awan-awan maha besar, terutama awan pralaya; Ia amat dahsyat, pengendali yang menundukkan segala, pelaksana pemusnahan. Ia menyala laksana api, bahkan dengan nyala yang lebih agung; pada saat pembakaran semesta Ia pekat oleh asap. Ia adalah Api yang berkenan oleh persembahan, dan Ia pula adalah havis itu sendiri—ghee, susu, dan segala yang layak dicurahkan ke dalam nyala suci.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse fuses cosmic and ritual theology: the same divine principle is both the fearsome power of dissolution (terrible, controlling, destructive, smoky time-fire) and the beneficent sacrificial fire that accepts offerings—indeed, it is also the offering itself. Ethically, it points to seeing the sacred as pervading both awe-inspiring cosmic forces and everyday dharmic acts like yajña.
Vāyu-deva is describing a deity in a litany of epithets—portraying him with pralaya imagery (great clouds, terror, destruction, smoke) and with yajña imagery (Agni who is pleased by oblations, and the oblation itself). The passage functions as praise/identification through names and attributes.