Shloka 24

Vyāsa’s Boon-Offer and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Remorse in the Forest Assembly (आश्रमवासिक पर्व, अध्याय ३६)

Devanagari script

तमुवाच किलोद्विग्न: संजयो वदतां वर:,तब वक्ताओंमें श्रेष्ठ संजयने अत्यन्त उद्विग्न होकर कहा--“राजन्‌! इस लौकिक अग्निसे आपकी मृत्यु होना ठीक नहीं है, (आपके शरीरका दाह-संस्कार तो आहवनीय अग्निमें होना चाहिये।) किंतु इस समय इस दावानलसे छुटकारा पानेका कोई उपाय भी मुझे नहीं दिखायी देता

Transliteration

tam uvāca kilodvignaḥ sañjayo vadatāṃ varaḥ |

Translation

Нарада сказал: Тогда Санджая — лучший из говорящих — глубоко потрясённый, обратился к царю: «О царь, не подобает тебе принять смерть от этого обычного, мирского огня; твоё сожжение должно совершиться в освящённом огне ахаванӣя (āhavanīya). Но сейчас я не вижу никакого средства спастись от этого яростного лесного пожара».

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'udvignaḥ', 'definition': 'agitated, distressed, alarmed'}, {'term': 'Sañjayaḥ', 'definition': 'Sañjaya, the charioteer-counsellor and narrator, famed for truthful speech'}, {'term': 'vadatāṃ varaḥ', 'definition': 'best among speakers

• an epithet praising eloquence and discernment'}, {'term': 'rājan', 'definition': 'O king

• vocative address to the ruler (here, Dhṛtarāṣṭra in context)'}, {'term': 'laukika-agni', 'definition': 'worldly/common fire (as opposed to ritual sacred fire)'}, {'term': 'āhavanīya-agni', 'definition': 'the sacred ‘offering’ fire used in Vedic rites

• ritually consecrated fire'}, {'term': 'dāvānala', 'definition': 'forest fire, wildfire, conflagration'}, {'term': 'mṛtyu', 'definition': 'death

• here, the manner of death and its ritual propriety'}, {'term': 'upāya', 'definition': 'means, remedy, method (of escape)'}]

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Nārada
• Sañjaya
• Rājan (Dhṛtarāṣṭra, implied by context)
• laukika agni (worldly fire)
• āhavanīya agni (sacrificial fire)
• dāvānala (forest fire)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights dharma as ritual and ethical propriety even at the end of life: a king’s death and funeral rites are ideally aligned with consecrated sacred fire (āhavanīya), not an accidental ‘worldly’ blaze. It also underscores human limitation—Sañjaya’s moral clarity does not guarantee practical power to avert fate.

What is happening in the narrative?

During the forest-dwelling phase, a wildfire (dāvānala) threatens the aged king and his companions. Sañjaya, shaken, addresses the king, lamenting that dying in a common fire is unfitting and that he sees no way to escape the conflagration.