Shloka 14
Aśvatthāmā’s Stuti of Rudra and Śiva’s Empowerment (सौप्तिकपर्व, अध्याय ७)
तस्यां वेद्यां तदा राजंश्रित्रभानुरजायत । स दिशो विदिश: खं च ज्वालाभिरिव पूरयन्,राजन! उस वेदीपर तत्काल ही अग्निदेव प्रकट हो गये, जो अपनी ज्वालाओंसे सम्पूर्ण दिशाओं-विदिशाओं और आकाशको परिपूर्ण-सा कर रहे थे
tasyāṁ vedyāṁ tadā rājan śitrabhānur ajāyata | sa diśo vidiśaḥ khaṁ ca jvālābhir iva pūrayan ||
രാജാവേ! ആ വേദിയിൽ അതേ നിമിഷം അഗ്നിദേവൻ പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെട്ടു; തന്റെ ജ്വാലകളാൽ ദിക്കുകളും ഉപദിക്കുകളും ആകാശവും നിറയ്ക്കുന്നതുപോലെ തോന്നി।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s sense that human violence and decisions unfold under a larger cosmic and ritual horizon: divine forces (here Agni) can appear as signs that actions are being witnessed and measured against order (ṛta/dharma), even amid the moral darkness of war.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that, upon a sacrificial altar, Agni suddenly manifests in a blazing form, his flames seeming to pervade all directions and the sky—an awe-inducing epiphany that functions like an omen and heightens the gravity of the events in the Sauptika episode.