Shloka 21

काकोपमोपदेशः

The Crow-and-Swan Exemplum as Counsel to Karṇa

Devanagari script

प्रतिविव्याध त॑ तूर्ण तव पुत्रो महीपति:

Transliteration

prativivyādha taṁ tūrṇaṁ tava putro mahīpatiḥ

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: Dein Sohn, o Herr der Erde, schlug ihn sogleich zurück—Schlag um Schlag in der Glut der Schlacht, wo Tapferkeit und Entschlossenheit erprobt werden, mitten in der verderblichen Ethik des Krieges.

Word by Word

• प्रतिविव्याध: pierced, struck
• Type: Verb
• Root: वि-व्यध् (धातु: व्यध्)
• Form: Perfect (Liṭ), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• तूर्णम्: swiftly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तूर्ण

• तव: of you, your
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: —, Genitive, Singular

• पुत्रः: son
• पुत्रः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुत्र
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• महीपतिः: king (lord of the earth)
• महीपतिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: महीपति
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by address mahīpatiḥ and 'your')
• tava putraḥ (Duryodhana / Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son, context-dependent)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the kṣatriya ideal of immediate response and steadfastness in combat, while implicitly pointing to the tragic moral tension of war: skill and duty operate within a larger field of destructive retaliation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that his son quickly delivers a counterstrike, indicating an ongoing exchange of blows between warriors in the Karṇa Parva battle sequence.