Shloka 76
पावकस्तु न तत्रासीच्छापकाले भृगूद्धह | देवा देव्यास्तथा शापादनपत्यास्ततो5भवन्,भुगुश्रेष्ठ उस शापके समय वहाँ अग्निदेव नहीं थे; अतः उनपर यह शाप लागू नहीं हुआ। अन्य सब देवता देवीके शापसे संतानहीन हो गये
pāvakastu na tatrāsīc chāpakāle bhṛgūddhaha | devā devyās tathā śāpād anapatyās tato 'bhavan ||
भीष्म म्हणाले— हे भृगुश्रेष्ठ! शाप दिला जात असताना तेथे पावक (अग्निदेव) उपस्थित नव्हते; म्हणून तो शाप त्यांच्यावर लागू झाला नाही. परंतु इतर सर्व देवता देवीच्या शापामुळे नंतर अपत्यहीन झाले.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how consequences (such as a curse) are conditioned by presence, participation, and the precise circumstances of an act. Moral and ritual causality in the epic is not indiscriminate: responsibility and result attach according to one’s involvement, while others may still bear the full effect.
Bhīṣma explains that when the goddess pronounced a curse, Agni (Pāvaka) was not present, so the curse did not apply to him. The remaining gods, however, were affected and consequently became childless.