Sanskrit
दंष्ट्राकरालानि च ते मुखानि दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसन्निभानि । दिशो न जाने न लभे च शर्म प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥
daṃṣṭrākarālāni ca te mukhāni dṛṣṭvaiva kālānalasannibhāni diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa
Translation
Like Time's destroying flames I see Thy teeth, upstanding, spread within expanded jaws; nought know I anywhere, no shelter find; Mercy, O God! refuge of all the worlds!
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
“Kālānala,” the fire of Time/Death, appears here as a simile for the fanged mouths — anticipating, seven verses early, the direct self-identification Krishna makes in verse 32 (“kālo’smi,” I am Time). Arjuna has, without yet being told, already intuited what he’s looking at. The verse ends on the chapter’s first outright plea for mercy (prasīda) — description has given way to supplication, and it won’t fully let up until Krishna agrees, in verse 49, to stop.