Shloka 20
भीष्मस्य मध्याह्नयुद्धवर्णनम् / Mid-day Battle Description: Bhīṣma Engaged by the Pāñcālas
भीमसेनस्तु सम्प्रेक्ष्य पुत्रांस्तव जनेश्वर । प्रजज्वाल रणे क्रुद्धो हविषा हव्यवाडिव
sañjaya uvāca | bhīmasenas tu samprekṣya putrāṁs tava janeśvara | prajajvāla raṇe kruddho haviṣā havyavāḍ iva ||
三阇耶说道：人中之主啊，毗摩塞那一见到你的诸子，便在战场上怒焰腾起——如祭火得酥油供养而愈加炽盛。那迦罗婆众的身影，竟成了燃料，使他在这既正当又可怖的战争之业中，决意与怒气更为强烈。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how powerful emotions—especially wrath—can be intensified by their immediate causes, just as fire grows when fed with ghee. In the ethical frame of the Mahābhārata, it also suggests that the accumulated consequences of adharma can ignite fierce retaliation in a dharma-bound conflict.
Sañjaya describes Bhīma on the battlefield: upon seeing Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons (the Kaurava warriors), Bhīma’s anger surges and he ‘blazes’ in combat readiness, compared to a sacrificial fire flaring up when offered ghee.