Shloka 49
Karna Reproves Shalya; Brahmin Reports on Bāhlīkas; Shalya’s Universalizing Rebuttal (कर्ण–शल्य संवादः)
सपर्वतवनद्वीपा हतवीरा ससागरा | पुत्रपौत्रप्रतिष्ठा ते भविष्यत्यद्य पार्थिव,भूपाल! आज उस वीरके मारे जानेपर पर्वत, वन, द्वीप और समुद्रोंसहित यह सारी पृथ्वी तुम्हारे पुत्र-पौत्रोंकी परम्परामें प्रतिष्ठित हो जायगी
sa-parvata-vana-dvīpā hatavīrā sa-sāgarā | putra-pautra-pratiṣṭhā te bhaviṣyaty adya pārthiva ||
Karna sprach: „O König, sobald jener Held gefallen ist, wird diese ganze Erde — mit ihren Bergen, Wäldern, Inseln und umschließenden Meeren — nun ihrer Helden beraubt, noch heute fest in deiner Linie begründet sein, als bleibendes Erbe für deine Söhne und Enkel.“
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the harsh moral logic of royal warfare: sovereignty is secured through the removal of rival heroes, and political stability is framed as dynastic continuity—‘establishment’ of the realm in the line of sons and grandsons—raising ethical tension between rightful rule and the human cost of conquest.
Karna addresses a king (the addressee styled ‘pārthiva/bhūpāla’) and declares that with a certain hero now slain, the earth—symbolically described with mountains, forests, islands, and seas—has become ‘hero-less’ and will, from this very day, be securely possessed and continued through that king’s descendants.