Shloka 773

Devanagari script

जघानास्त्रं महाराज घटोत्कचसमीरितम्‌ । महाराज! कर्णने अपने बाणसमूहोंद्वारा सारी दिशाओंको आच्छादित करके घटोत्कचद्वारा चलाये गये अस्त्रोंको काट डाला

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | jaghānāstraṃ mahārāja ghaṭotkaca-samīritam |

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: O König, Karṇa schlug das Geschoss nieder, das Ghaṭotkaca abgeschossen hatte. Indem er alle Himmelsrichtungen mit Pfeilsalven erfüllte, zerschnitt er die von Ghaṭotkaca geschleuderten Waffen—ein Bild unerbittlicher Kriegskunst gegen einen furchterregenden, unkonventionellen Gegner im moralischen Aufruhr des Krieges.

Word by Word

जघानslew/destroyed

अस्त्रम्weapon/missile

महाराजO great king

घटोत्कचby Ghaṭotkaca

समीरितम्impelled/shot/let loose

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Karna

Ghaṭotkaca

astra (missile/weapon)

arrows (bāṇa-saṃghāta implied by the Hindi gloss)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the grim ethic of battlefield duty: skill and resolve are deployed to neutralize lethal force. It underscores how, in war, even extraordinary power (astras) is met by counter-force, raising the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between necessary action and the moral cost of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Ghaṭotkaca has launched a weapon, and Karna responds by saturating the battlefield with arrows and cutting down the incoming missiles—successfully thwarting Ghaṭotkaca’s assault.