Shloka 72
गुरो: सुतं चावरजं तथा55त्मन: पदातिनो<5थ द्विपसादिनश्च तान् निरुध्यताभिद्रवताच्युतार्जुनौ श्रमेण संयोजयताशु सर्वश:
guroḥ sutaṁ cāvarajaṁ tathātmanaḥ padātino ’tha dvipasādinaś ca tān nirudhyatābhidravata acyutārjunau śrameṇa saṁyojayatāśu sarvaśaḥ
Karna sprach: „Haltet den jüngeren Sohn unseres Lehrers zurück, und ebenso meine eigenen Truppen—sowohl das Fußvolk als auch die Elefantenreiter. Dann stürmt voran und verwickelt Acyuta (Krishna) und Arjuna von allen Seiten rasch in einen erschöpfenden Kampf.“
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights battlefield leadership and strategic prioritization: a commander may restrain even allied forces if their movement disrupts the main objective, and then concentrate effort to pressure the principal opponents. Ethically, it reflects the Mahābhārata’s tension between kṣatriya duty (effective command in war) and the moral ambiguity of using overwhelming, exhausting tactics against key foes.
Karna issues orders to his side: hold back the younger son of the preceptor (understood as Aśvatthāman, son of Droṇa) and also restrain Karna’s own infantry and elephant units; then charge and surround Krishna (Acyuta) and Arjuna, engaging them rapidly and from all directions to wear them down through sustained combat.