Shloka 38

Devanagari script

त्वरितो$भिपतत्यस्मांस्त्यक्त्वा सैन्यान्यसंशयम्‌ | त्वं कर्ण प्रतियाहोनं नास्त्यन्यो हि धनुर्धर:

Transliteration

tvarito 'bhipataty asmāṁs tyaktvā sainyāny asaṁśayam | tvaṁ karṇa pratiyāho naṁ nāsty anyo hi dhanurdharaḥ ||

Translation

Arjuna sprach: „Ohne Zweifel hat er die übrigen Heeresabteilungen verlassen und stürzt in großer Eile gerade auf uns zu. Darum, o Karṇa, tritt vor, um ihm im Kampf zu begegnen — kein anderer Bogenschütze vermag ihn zu stellen wie du.“

Word by Word

• {'tvaritaḥ': 'hastened, swift, in great urgency', 'abhipatati': 'charges at, falls upon, rushes toward', 'asmān': 'us (accusative plural)', 'tyaktvā': 'having abandoned, leaving aside', 'sainyāni': 'armies, troops, divisions of forces', 'asaṁśayam': 'without doubt, certainly', 'tvaṁ': 'you', 'karṇa': 'Karna (vocative)', 'pratiyāhi': 'go forth to meet, confront, advance against', 'raṇam': 'battle, combat', 'na asti anyaḥ': 'there is no other', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'dhanurdharaḥ': 'bow-bearer, archer'}

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• Karna
• battle (raṇa)
• armies/troops (sainyāni)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

In the midst of crisis, a warrior-leader must respond decisively and assign responsibility according to proven capability; courage and competence are treated as ethical obligations within the kṣatriya code of battle.

What is happening in the narrative?

A key opponent breaks away from the wider fighting and charges directly at Arjuna’s side; Arjuna urges Karna to advance and confront the attacker, emphasizing that no other archer is equal to the task.