Shloka 18
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 53: Arjuna’s Jayadratha-vadha Pratijñā and Droṇa’s Protective Vyūha (शकटा-पद्म व्यूहः)
कृष्णरक्ता तथा पिड़्रक्तजिद्दास्यलोचना । कुण्डलाभ्यां च राजेन्द्र तप्ताभ्यां तप्तभूषणा,उस क्रोधाग्निका उपसंहार करते समय महात्मा ब्रह्माजीकी सम्पूर्ण इन्द्रियोंसे एक नारी प्रकट हुई, जो काले और लाल रंगकी थी। उसकी जिह्ढला, मुख और नेत्र पीले और लाल रंगके थे। राजेन्द्र! वह तपाये हुए सोनेके कुण्डलोंसे सुशोभित थी और उसके सभी आभूषण तप्त सुवर्णके बने हुए थे
kṛṣṇaraktā tathā pītaraktajihvādāsyalocanā | kuṇḍalābhyāṃ ca rājendra taptābhyāṃ taptabhūṣaṇā ||
Nārada said: “O king, there appeared a woman of dark and red hue; her tongue, mouth, and eyes were yellow and red. She was adorned with a pair of earrings of heated gold, and all her ornaments were fashioned of glowing, molten-like gold.”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how intense cosmic forces (such as wrath or destructive energy) are personified and made visible as a being; it cautions that uncontrolled anger and destructive power take on a tangible, fearsome form and must be brought under restraint in accordance with dharma.
Nārada describes the appearance of a formidable woman characterized by dark-red coloration and glowing golden ornaments. In the surrounding narrative (as reflected in the Gītā Press Hindi context), she manifests during the subsiding/containment of a ‘fire of wrath’ associated with Brahmā, serving as an ominous, power-laden apparition.