Shloka 26
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
धर्मार्थकामं संयुक्त त्रिवेणुं दारु बन्धुरम् । ओषधीर्वीरुधश्चैव घण्टा: पुष्पफलोपगा:
dharmārthakāmaṃ saṃyuktaṃ triveṇuṃ dāru-bandhuram | oṣadhīr vīrudhaś caiva ghaṇṭāḥ puṣpaphalopagāḥ |
قال دوريودhana: «بجمعِ الدارما (dharma) والأرثا (artha) والكاما (kāma) في ثلاثيةٍ واحدة—كضفيرةٍ ثلاثيةٍ مشدودةٍ على إطارٍ خشبي—صنعتُ مقعدَ العربة. ومن الأعشابِ الطبيةِ والكرومِ الزاحفةِ المفعمةِ بالزهورِ والثمار، صنعتُ حُليًّا كالأجراس.»
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a crafted image to suggest that human aims—dharma (moral order), artha (power/prosperity), and kāma (desire)—can be ‘woven together’ into a single structure. In the Mahābhārata’s ethical horizon, this raises a tension: when such aims are blended without dharma governing the others, splendour and ingenuity may still serve a flawed purpose.
Duryodhana describes an act of symbolic construction and ornamentation connected with a chariot: he imagines the triad of dharma-artha-kāma as a threefold braid forming the seat, and he fashions bell-like decorations from flowering, fruit-bearing herbs and vines—projecting royal magnificence and deliberate design amid the war setting.