Padma Purana — Bhumi Khanda, Shloka 18
Diti’s Lament
On the Fall of the Daityas and the Futility of Grief
नाशितं मर्दितं सर्वं द्रावितं विकलीकृतम् । स्वैरर्चिभिर्यथा वह्निस्तृणानि ज्वालयेद्वने
nāśitaṃ marditaṃ sarvaṃ drāvitaṃ vikalīkṛtam | svairarcibhiryathā vahnistṛṇāni jvālayedvane
すべては滅ぼされ、打ち砕かれ、散らされ、無力へと落とされた。まるで森の火が、自らの燃え盛る炎で枯れ草を焼き尽くすように。
Unspecified (narrative voice within Bhūmi-khaṇḍa; exact dialogue speaker not provided in the input)
Primary Rasa: raudra
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
Type: forest
Sandhi Resolution Notes: स्वैरर्चिभिर्यथा = स्वैः + अर्चिभिः + यथा; वह्निस्तृणानि = वह्निः + तृणानि; ज्वालयेद्वने = ज्वालयेत् + वने
FAQs
A forest fire igniting dry grasses is used as a simile for total and unstoppable ruin—everything becomes crushed, dissolved, and incapacitated.
It conveys the idea of overwhelming consequences—when destructive forces (often read as karma, time, wrath, or calamity) arise, they can rapidly consume what is fragile, like dry grass before fire.
None are explicitly named in this shloka; it functions primarily as a vivid metaphor within the chapter’s narrative context.