Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 37: The History of Skanda
Text 1.37.14
तस्य तद्वचनं श्रुत्वा दिव्यं रूपमधारयत्।
दृष्ट्वा तन्महिमानं स समन्तादवकीर्यत॥
tasya tad vacanaṁ śrutvā divyaṁ rūpam adhārayat
dṛṣṭvā tan-mahimānaṁ sa samantād avakīryata
tasya = his; tat vacanam = words; śrutvā = upon hearing; divyam = a divine; rūpam = form; adhārayat = Gaṅgā assumed; dṛṣṭvā = seeing; tat-mahimānam = her glory; saḥ = Agni; samantāt = all over her; avakīryata = scattered the power of Lord Śiva.
Upon hearing his words, Gaṅgā assumed a divine form. Seeing her glory, Agni scattered the power of Lord Śiva all over her.
Gaṅgā’s divine form was an extremely beautiful form of a celestial goddess. Upon seeing her beauty, Agni scattered Lord Śiva’s powerful semen all over. Agni’s reaction is because aṅgāra-sadṛśī nārī ghṛta-kumbha-samaḥ pumān, “A woman is like burning charcoal while a man is like a pot of ghee.”