Shloka 18
सवा कर्णो महाबुद्धि: सर्वशस्त्रभूतां वर: । न मुक्तवान् कथं सूत ताममोघां धनंजये,सूत! समस्त शस्त्रधारियोंमें श्रेष्ठ कर्ण तो बड़ा बुद्धिमान् है; उसने स्वयं ही उस अमोघ शक्तिको अर्जुनपर कैसे नहीं छोड़ा?
Dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca:
Sa vā Karṇo mahābuddhiḥ sarvaśastrabhṛtāṁ varaḥ |
Na muktavān kathaṁ sūta tām amoghāṁ Dhanañjaye ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra sprach: „Jener Karṇa, von großer Klugheit, der Beste unter allen Waffenführern — warum, o Sūta, hat er jene unfehlbare Macht nicht gegen Dhanañjaya (Arjuna) entfesselt?“
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between possessing power and choosing when (or whether) to use it. Even an ‘unfailing’ weapon does not automatically determine outcomes; human judgment, constraints of circumstance, prior vows/allocations of weapons, and the moral weight of decisions shape action in war.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions Sañjaya about Karṇa’s failure to deploy an unerring power-weapon against Arjuna. He is trying to understand why the Kaurava side did not neutralize its most formidable opponent when a seemingly decisive means was available.