Shloka 69

Devanagari script

ततः क्रुद्धो रणे द्रौणिभभृशं जज्वाल मारिष । यथेन्धनं महत्‌ प्राप्य प्राज्वलद्धव्यवाहन:

Transliteration

tataḥ kruddho raṇe drauṇir bhṛśaṃ jajvāla māriṣa | yathendhanaṃ mahat prāpya prājvalad dhavyavāhanaḥ ||

Translation

ततः क्रुद्धो रणे द्रौणिर्भृशं जज्वाल मारिष । यथेन्धनं महत् प्राप्य प्राज्वलद्धव्यवाहनः ॥

Word by Word

ततःthen, thereafter

क्रुद्धःangry

रणेin battle

द्रौणिःDrauni (Aśvatthāman, son of Droṇa)

भृशम्exceedingly, greatly

जज्वालblazed, flared up

मारिषO noble one / O sir

यथाas, just as

इन्धनम्fuel

महत्great, large

प्राप्यhaving obtained, having reached

प्राज्वलत्blazing forth

हव्यवाहनःthe fire (carrier of oblations)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Aśvatthāmā (Drauṇi)

Agni (as dhavyavāhana, sacrificial fire)

Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by the address māriṣa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how anger, once supplied with ‘fuel’ (provocation, grief, humiliation, or desire for revenge), can expand rapidly into destructive force—like sacrificial fire fed with abundant wood—warning that unchecked wrath magnifies harm in war and in moral life.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes Aśvatthāmā on the battlefield becoming intensely enraged and ‘blazing’ with ferocity. The comparison to Agni emphasizes the sudden, overpowering escalation of his martial fury.