Shloka 22
अध्याय ५७ — राजोपरिचरवसोः धर्मोपदेशः, सत्यवत्याः उत्पत्तिः, व्यासजन्म च
Adhyāya 57: Indra’s Counsel to King Vasu; Origin of Satyavatī; Birth of Vyāsa
कालानलविषा घोरा हुताः: शतसहसत्रश: । महाकाया महावेगा: शैलशृज्गसमुच्छुया:,उनके विष प्रलयाग्निके समान दाहक थे। वे नाग बड़े ही भयंकर थे। उनके शरीर विशाल और वेग महान् थे। वे ऊँचे तो ऐसे थे, मानो पर्वतके शिखर हों। ऐसे नाग लाखोंकी संख्यामें यज्ञाग्निकी आहुति बन गये
kālānalaviṣā ghorā hutāḥ śatasahasraśaḥ | mahākāyā mahāvegāḥ śailaśṛṅgasamucchrayāḥ ||
Śaunaka said: “Terrible serpents, whose venom burned like the fire of cosmic dissolution, were offered into the sacrificial blaze by the hundreds of thousands. Vast-bodied and of tremendous speed, they rose up like mountain peaks—yet even such Nāgas were consumed as oblations in the rite.”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how ritual power, when driven by fear, vengeance, or excess, can become massively destructive. The imagery of venom like pralaya-fire highlights the terrifying potency of the Nāgas, yet also the equally overwhelming force of the sacrificial rite—inviting reflection on restraint (saṃyama) and the ethical limits of violence even when sanctioned by ritual.
Śaunaka describes the Sarpasatra (snake-sacrifice) in which innumerable Nāgas—gigantic, swift, and towering like mountain peaks—are drawn into and consumed by the sacrificial fire as oblations.