Shloka 33

Devanagari script

न चापि कर्ण गुरुपुत्र संयुगा- दुपारमेत्यर्हसि वक्तुमच्युत । श्रमेण युक्तो महताद्य फाल्गुन- स्तमेष कर्ण: प्रसभं हनिष्यति,“अपनी मर्यादा न छोड़नेवाले गुरुपुत्र! तुम्हें कर्णसे युद्ध बंद करनेके लिये नहीं कहना चाहिये; क्योंकि इस समय अर्जुन महान्‌ परिश्रमसे थक गये हैं; अतः अब कर्ण उन्हें बलपूर्वक मार डालेगा”

Transliteration

na cāpi karṇa guruputra saṁyugād upāram ety arhasi vaktum acyuta | śrameṇa yukto mahatādyā phālgunaḥ tameṣa karṇaḥ prasabhaṁ haniṣyati ||

Translation

Sañjaya sprach: „O Acyuta, du solltest dem Sohn des Guru (Arjuna) nicht sagen, er solle sich aus dem Kampf mit Karṇa zurückziehen. Denn in diesem Augenblick ist Phālguna (Arjuna) von großer Anstrengung erschöpft; darum wird Karṇa ihn nun mit Gewalt niederstrecken.“

Word by Word

• {'na ca api': 'and not even

• certainly not', 'karṇa': 'Karna', 'guruputra': 'son of the guru (here, Aśvatthāmā)', 'saṁyugāt': 'from the battle

• from the engagement', 'upāram': 'cessation

• stopping', 'eti': 'goes to

• withdraws', 'arhasi': 'you ought

• it is fitting for you', 'vaktum': 'to say

• to tell', 'acyuta': 'Acyuta, an epithet of Kṛṣṇa meaning ‘the infallible/unyielding one’', 'śrameṇa': 'with fatigue

• by exertion', 'yuktaḥ': 'joined with

• afflicted by', 'mahatā': 'great

• intense', 'adya': 'today

• now', 'phālgunaḥ': 'Phālguna, Arjuna', 'tam': 'him', 'eṣa': 'this (one), i.e., Karṇa', 'prasabham': 'forcibly

• violently', 'haniṣyati': 'will kill

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Karṇa
• Acyuta (Kṛṣṇa)
• Guruputra (Aśvatthāmā)
• Phālguna (Arjuna)
• saṁyuga (battle)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethics of counsel in war: one should not urge a warrior to abandon a rightful engagement merely for convenience, especially when the moment is critical. It also underscores how exhaustion and timing can decisively shift the balance in battle.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that Kṛṣṇa (Acyuta) should not advise the ‘son of the guru’ (Aśvatthāmā) to stop fighting Karṇa, because Arjuna (Phālguna) is presently fatigued from intense effort, and Karṇa is poised to overpower and kill him.