Shloka 25

Devanagari script

स एकदा कक्षगतो महात्मा तुष्टो विभु: खाण्डवे धूमकेतु: । स राक्षसानुरगांश्वावजित्य सर्वत्रग: सर्वमग्नौ जुहोति

Transliteration

sa ekadā kakṣagato mahātmā tuṣṭo vibhuḥ khāṇḍave dhūmaketuḥ | sa rākṣasānuragāṁś cāvajitya sarvatragaḥ sarvam agnau juhoti ||

Translation

Bhishma nói: “Có một lần, bậc Đại Ngã, Đấng Toàn Năng—Dhūmaketu, tức Thần Lửa—đi vào những lùm rậm của rừng Khāṇḍava và, thấm khắp đống củi khô, được thỏa mãn trọn vẹn. Vị Chúa tể hiện hữu khắp nơi ấy, sau khi khuất phục các Rakshasa và các bộ tộc rắn vốn bám víu nơi ấy, đã dâng mọi thứ vào chính ngọn lửa—thiêu đốt tất cả như một lễ hiến tế.”

Word by Word

• {'saḥ': 'he

• that one', 'ekadā': 'once

• at one time', 'kakṣa-gataḥ': 'having entered the brushwood/thickets', 'mahātmā': 'great-souled

• exalted being', 'tuṣṭaḥ': 'satisfied

• content', 'vibhuḥ': 'mighty

• sovereign', 'khāṇḍave': 'in the Khāṇḍava (forest)', 'dhūmaketuḥ': '‘smoke-bannered’

• a name/epithet of Agni (Fire)', 'rākṣasān': 'Rakshasas (demonic beings)', 'anuragān': 'attached

• clinging (to a place/interest)', 'ca': 'and', 'avajitya': 'having conquered

• having subdued', 'sarvatragaḥ': 'all-pervading

• present everywhere', 'sarvam': 'everything

• all', 'agnau': 'into the fire', 'juhoti': 'offers (as in sacrifice)

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Dhūmaketu (Agni)
• Khāṇḍava forest
• Rākṣasas
• Nāgas (serpent beings)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames overwhelming destructive power (fire consuming a forest and its hostile beings) as a form of yajña: the Lord, all-pervading and sovereign, ‘offers everything into fire.’ Ethically, it suggests that even fearsome events can be understood within a larger dharmic-cosmic order, where elements return to their source and resistance to that order is ultimately subdued.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma describes Dhūmaketu (Agni) entering the thickets of the Khāṇḍava forest, spreading through its dry fuel and becoming satisfied by consuming it. In the process, he overcomes Rakshasas and Nāgas associated with the place and consigns all into the fire as if performing a sacrificial offering.