Shloka 14
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 ||
Sañjaya berkata: “Wahai Raja, di atas altar itu, pada saat itu juga, Agni—bersinar dengan nyala api yang terang—menjelma. Dengan lidah-lidah apinya, baginda seakan memenuhi segala penjuru, arah antara, bahkan seluruh langit.”
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.