Shloka 4
Devanagari script
वैशम्पायन उवाच यदर्थ शार्कईकानग्निर्न ददाह तथागते । तत् ते सर्व प्रवक्ष्यामि यथाभूतमरिंदम
Transliteration
vaiśampāyana uvāca | yadarthaṃ śārkāikān agnir na dadāha tathāgate | tat te sarvaṃ pravakṣyāmi yathābhūtam ariṃdama ||
Translation
毗舍波耶那说道：“噢，降伏仇敌者！我将如实而详尽地告诉你：为何那场可怖的大火既已发生，火神阿耆尼却未焚烧娑尔迦伊迦族；并且那件事究竟是如何展开的。且听我言。”
Word by Word
[{'term''vaiśampāyana uvāca', 'definition': 'Vaiśampāyana said (narrator’s speech marker).'}, {'term': 'yadartham', 'definition': 'for what reason
[{'term':
on account of which cause.'}, {'term''agnīḥ / agniḥ', 'definition': 'Agni
on account of which cause.'}, {'term':
fire.'}, {'term''na dadāha', 'definition': 'did not burn
fire.'}, {'term':
did not consume.'}, {'term''tathāgate', 'definition': 'when it had thus occurred
did not consume.'}, {'term':
when it had come to pass (locative absolute sense).'}, {'term''tat te sarvam', 'definition': 'all that to you.'}, {'term': 'pravakṣyāmi', 'definition': 'I will explain
when it had come to pass (locative absolute sense).'}, {'term':
I will narrate in detail.'}, {'term''yathābhūtam', 'definition': 'as it truly happened
I will narrate in detail.'}, {'term':
according to the facts.'}, {'term''ariṃdama', 'definition': 'subduer of enemies (epithet, here addressing Janamejaya).'}, {'term': 'śārkāikān', 'definition': 'the Śārkāikas (a named group/people
according to the facts.'}, {'term':
Speaker
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Characters & Entities
V
VaiśampāyanaA
Agni (Fire-god)J
JanamejayaŚ
ŚārkāikasCharacter Dynamics
Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)
War Context
Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)
Philosophical Teaching
Political Layer
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds truthful narration and moral causality: extraordinary outcomes (such as divine fire not burning a particular group) are presented as having specific reasons, which the narrator promises to relate exactly as they occurred.
Vaiśampāyana, addressing King Janamejaya, transitions into an explanatory account: he will describe why Agni spared the Śārkāikas during a terrifying fire and will recount the incident in full detail.