Shloka 20
भीष्मस्य मध्याह्नयुद्धवर्णनम् / Mid-day Battle Description: Bhīṣma Engaged by the Pāñcālas
भीमसेनस्तु सम्प्रेक्ष्य पुत्रांस्तव जनेश्वर । प्रजज्वाल रणे क्रुद्धो हविषा हव्यवाडिव,जनेश्वर! जैसे घीकी आहुति देनेसे अग्निदेव प्रज्वलित हो उठते हैं, उसी प्रकार रणक्षेत्रमें आपके पुत्रोंको देखकर भीमसेन क्रोधसे जल उठे
sañjaya uvāca | bhīmasenas tu samprekṣya putrāṁs tava janeśvara | prajajvāla raṇe kruddho haviṣā havyavāḍ iva ||
Sañjaya said: O lord of men, when Bhīmasena beheld your sons, he blazed with wrath on the battlefield—like the sacrificial fire flares up when fed with clarified butter. The sight of the Kauravas becomes the very fuel that intensifies his resolve and fury in the righteous yet terrible work of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how powerful emotions—especially wrath—can be intensified by their immediate causes, just as fire grows when fed with ghee. In the ethical frame of the Mahābhārata, it also suggests that the accumulated consequences of adharma can ignite fierce retaliation in a dharma-bound conflict.
Sañjaya describes Bhīma on the battlefield: upon seeing Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons (the Kaurava warriors), Bhīma’s anger surges and he ‘blazes’ in combat readiness, compared to a sacrificial fire flaring up when offered ghee.