Shloka 29
कर्णेन सैन्यस्थापनं तथा नानायुद्धसमवायः
Karna Reforms the Host and Multiple Duels Converge
कृतघ्नता परवित्तापहारो मद्यपानं गुरुदारावमर्द: । वाक्पारुष्यं गोवधो रात्रिचर्या बहिर्गेहं परवस्त्रोपभोग:
kṛtaghnatā paravittāpahāro madyapānaṃ gurudārāvamardaḥ | vākpāruṣyaṃ govadho rātricaryā bahirgehaṃ paravastrōpabhogaḥ ||
Karna sprach: „Undankbarkeit, das Rauben fremden Vermögens, der Genuss berauschender Getränke, die Schändung der Frau des Lehrers, harte und schmähende Rede, das Töten einer Kuh, nächtliches Umherstreifen zu unziemlichen Zwecken, das Verweilen außerhalb des eigenen Hauses sowie das Tragen oder Genießen der Kleidung eines anderen — dies sind Taten, die den sittlichen Verfall kennzeichnen und im Gefüge des Dharma Tadel herbeiführen.“
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse lists behaviors condemned by dharma—ingratitude, theft, intoxication, sexual violation (especially involving the teacher’s wife), abusive speech, cow-killing, and other socially destructive acts—presenting them as markers of ethical degradation and sources of blame.
Karna is speaking in a didactic mode, enumerating actions regarded as grave moral faults. The statement functions as ethical instruction within the broader war-time discourse, emphasizing that even amid conflict, certain transgressions remain censurable.