Shloka 69
ततः क्रुद्धो रणे द्रौणिभभृशं जज्वाल मारिष । यथेन्धनं महत् प्राप्य प्राज्वलद्धव्यवाहन:
tataḥ kruddho raṇe drauṇir bhṛśaṃ jajvāla māriṣa | yathendhanaṃ mahat prāpya prājvalad dhavyavāhanaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Then, in the midst of battle, the son of Droṇa—consumed by anger—blazed forth with fierce intensity, O revered one, like the sacrificial fire that flares up powerfully when it obtains abundant fuel. The verse frames wrath as a force that, once fed by circumstances, can swell into a consuming blaze on the battlefield.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger, once supplied with ‘fuel’ (provocation, grief, humiliation, or desire for revenge), can expand rapidly into destructive force—like sacrificial fire fed with abundant wood—warning that unchecked wrath magnifies harm in war and in moral life.
Sañjaya describes Aśvatthāmā on the battlefield becoming intensely enraged and ‘blazing’ with ferocity. The comparison to Agni emphasizes the sudden, overpowering escalation of his martial fury.