Shloka 243
हैडिम्बश्नाप्युपायेन शक््त्या कर्णेन घातित: । मायावी अलायुध घटोत्कचके हाथसे मारा गया है और घटोत्कचको भी मैंने ही युक्ति लगाकर कर्णकी चलायी हुई शक्तिसे मरवा दिया है
haiḍimbaś cāpy upāyena śaktyā karṇena ghātitaḥ | māyāvī alāyudhaś ca ghaṭotkacaḥ mayāiva yuktim āsthāya karṇa-prayuktayā śaktyā māritaḥ ||
Śrī Vāyudeva sprach: „Haidimba wurde ebenfalls durch eine List von Karṇa mit seiner Śakti getötet. Und der zauberkundige Alāyudha—Ghaṭotkaca—wurde auch von mir dem Tod zugeführt, indem ich ein Mittel anwandte, sodass er durch die von Karṇa geschleuderte Śakti fiel.“
श्रीवायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in war, outcomes often hinge on upāya (strategic expedients) and the controlled deployment of extraordinary weapons. It implicitly raises a dharmic tension: valor alone is not the sole determinant—counsel, timing, and the redirection of destructive power can decide events, even when such means feel morally ambiguous.
Vāyudeva claims responsibility for arranging, through strategy, that Karṇa’s Śakti would be used to kill key rākṣasa opponents—naming Haidimba and the māyāvī Alāyudha/Ghaṭotkaca—thereby explaining these deaths as orchestrated rather than accidental, and emphasizing the decisive role of counsel and divine influence in the battle’s turning points.