Adhyāya 31: Rājasūya-samāgama — The Gathering of Kings and the Ordering of Hospitality
चित्रभानु: सुरेशश्व॒ अनलस्त्वं विभावसो । स्वर्गद्वारस्पृशश्चवासि हुताशो ज्वलनः शिखी
citrabhānuḥ sureśaś ca analas tvaṃ vibhāvaso | svargadvāraspṛśaś cāsi hutāśo jvalanaḥ śikhī vibhāvaso ||
ହେ ବିଭାବସୁ! ଆପଣ ହିଁ ଚିତ୍ରଭାନୁ, ସୁରେଶ ଓ ଅନଳ ଭାବେ ପରିଚିତ। ଆପଣଙ୍କ ଶିଖା ସଦା ସ୍ୱର୍ଗଦ୍ୱାରକୁ ସ୍ପର୍ଶ କରେ। ଆହୁତି ଭକ୍ଷଣ କରିବାରୁ ଆପଣ ‘ହୁତାଶ’; ଜ୍ୱଳିବାରୁ ‘ଜ୍ୱଳନ’; ଶିଖା ଧାରଣ କରିବାରୁ ‘ଶିଖୀ’।
सहदेव उवाच
The verse highlights Agni as the sacred mediator of offerings and a purifier who upholds ritual truth: fire ‘consumes’ oblations, rises heavenward, and thus symbolizes the ethical seriousness of vows, sacrifices, and truthful conduct performed before a divine witness.
Sahadeva is addressing and praising Agni by enumerating his traditional names and qualities—his brilliance, his insatiable consuming nature, his role as receiver of offerings, and his upward-reaching flames—using these epithets as a formal invocation/stuti within the ongoing discourse of the chapter.