Mahabharata — Karna Parva, Shloka 17
धर्मरहस्योपदेशः
Dharma-rahasya Instruction: Vows, Truth, and Non-injury
त्रैलोक्यस्य समस्तस्य शक्तः क्रुद्धों निवारणे । बिभर्ति सदृशं रूप॑ युगान्ताग्निसमप्र भम्
trailokyasya samastasya śaktaḥ kruddho nivāraṇe | bibharti sadṛśaṃ rūpaṃ yugāntāgnisamaprabham ||
Wika ni Śalya: “Kapag siya’y nagngangalit, kaya niyang pigilan at hadlangan ang buong tatlong daigdig. Sapagkat ngayo’y taglay niya ang anyong nagliliwanag na tulad ng apoy sa wakas ng isang yugto—apoy ng paglipol.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how uncontrolled anger can become a world-stopping force, likened to cosmic destruction. Ethically, it underscores the need for restraint in war: immense power, when driven by wrath, approaches the scale of pralaya (cataclysm), making self-control a crucial aspect of dharma.
Śalya is describing a warrior’s terrifying, anger-fueled might, saying that in his rage he could restrain even the three worlds, because he has assumed a form blazing like the end-of-age fire. The line functions as heightened battlefield rhetoric, magnifying the immediacy and danger of the moment.