Śvetaki

Śvetaki was a great and pious king, famous for his extreme devotion to yajña (the fire ritual). He performed a twelve-year satra, a continuous sacred session, which Agni served without pause. The constant feeding of clarified butter into the sacred fire for twelve unbroken years exhausted Agni and weakened his ability to take in more offerings. Agni asked Brahmā for relief, and Brahmā prescribed the burning of the Khāṇḍava forest as the cure.

Śvetaki thus became, without any ill intention, the indirect cause of the Khāṇḍavadāha, the great burning of the Khāṇḍava forest by Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. The ṛṣi Durvāsa completed the satra with him.

The twelve-year satra

Śvetaki was a king of extraordinary devotion. He resolved to perform a great yajña of unmatched length, a satra lasting twelve unbroken years.

The ritual asked a great deal. It needed continuous chanting, continuous offerings and continuous service of the sacred fire, without any pause. It was hard to find priests who were willing and able to keep up this pace. Most brāhmaṇas (priests) withdrew from its demands.

In the end the great and formidable ṛṣi Durvāsa agreed to complete the satra. Under his direction the twelve-year yajña was brought to its end.

The effect on Agni

Through the twelve years Agni received offering after offering of clarified butter (ghṛta) without rest. The amount and the constancy of the offerings did not strengthen him. They left him exhausted and glutted, unable to receive or digest more food. He had taken in so much ghṛta that his power to digest was weakened.

Agni went to Brahmā for relief. Brahmā told him to consume the Khāṇḍava forest, with all its animals, nāgas and other living beings. This would restore Agni’s full strength. So Agni went toward the Khāṇḍava forest, and the events of the Khāṇḍavadāha began.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 222