Shloka 35
अग्निभय-प्रसङ्गे मन्दपालस्य शोकः
Mandapāla’s Lament amid the Threat of Fire
सर्वतः परिवार्याथ सप्तार्चिज्वलनस्तथा । ददाह खाण्डवं दावं युगान्तमिव दर्शयन्,सात ज्वालामयी जिह्लाओंवाले अग्निदेव खाण्डव-वनको सब ओरसे घेरकर महाप्रलयका-सा दृश्य उपस्थित करते हुए जलाने लगे
sarvataḥ parivāryātha saptārcirjvalanas tathā | dadāha khāṇḍavaṁ dāvaṁ yugāntam iva darśayan ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Then Agni, blazing with seven tongues of flame, surrounded the Khāṇḍava forest on every side and began to burn that woodland-conflagration, displaying a scene like the end of an age—an overwhelming, world-consuming devastation that signals the terrible power unleashed when cosmic forces are set in motion.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the awe-inspiring, morally weighty force of cosmic powers: when divine energies such as Agni are unleashed, the result can resemble yugānta—total dissolution—reminding the listener that actions involving such forces carry vast consequences beyond ordinary human scale.
Agni, described as seven-tongued and intensely blazing, encircles the Khāṇḍava forest from all directions and begins burning it, creating a spectacle compared to the end-of-age destruction.