Shloka 22
खाण्डवदाहोत्तर-वरप्रदानम्
Boons after the Khāṇḍava Burning
अर्चिर्धाराभिसम्बद्ध॑ धूमविद्युत्ममाकुलम् । बभूव तद्ू वन॑ घोरं स्तनयित्नुसमाकुलम्,आगकी लपटों और जलकी धाराओंसे संयुक्त होनेपर उस वनमें धुआँ उठने लगा। सब ओर बिजली चमकने लगी और चारों ओर मेघोंकी गड़गड़ाहटका शब्द गूँज उठा। इस प्रकार खाण्डववनकी दशा बड़ी भयंकर हो गयी
arcirdhārābhisambaddhaṃ dhūmavidyut-samākulam | babhūva tad vanaṃ ghoraṃ stanayitnu-samākulam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Bound together with streams of flame and torrents of water, that forest became choked with smoke and flashing with lightning. Filled with the roar of thunder, the woodland turned dreadful on every side—thus the Khāṇḍava forest fell into a terrifying state, showing how violence and counter-violence in nature can rapidly magnify into overwhelming destruction.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how destructive forces, once unleashed, intensify and spread: fire, smoke, lightning, and thunder become a single terrifying system. Ethically, it hints that acts of large-scale harm generate cascading consequences that overwhelm both the environment and those involved.
Vaiśampāyana describes the Khāṇḍava forest becoming dreadful as flames and torrents combine, smoke rises, lightning flashes, and thunder roars—an intense depiction of the forest’s catastrophic upheaval.