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:

Transliteration

tam uvāca kilodvignaḥ sañjayo vadatāṃ varaḥ |

Translation

那罗陀说道：于是，善迦耶——诸言者之最胜——心神大震，对国王说道：“大王啊，您不应当死于这等世俗凡火；您的火葬本应在已奉献的阿诃婆尼耶圣火（āhavanīya）中举行。然而此刻，我全然看不出有任何办法能逃离这场狂暴的林野大火。”

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.