Shloka 28
स सायक: कर्णभुजप्रसृष्टो हुताशनार्कप्रतिम: सुघोर: । गुणच्युत: कर्णधनु:प्रमुक्तो वियद्गत: प्राज्वलदन्तरिक्षे
sa sāyakaḥ karṇabhujaprasṛṣṭo hutāśanārkapratimaḥ sughoraḥ | guṇacyutaḥ karṇadhanuḥpramukto viyadgataḥ prājvalad antarīkṣe ||
Sañjaya sprach: Der Pfeil, von Karṇas mächtigem Arm entsandt—schrecklich, lodernd wie Feuer und Sonne—fuhr aus Karṇas Bogen, als die Sehne glitt. Er schoss in den Himmel, flammte auf, während er die Luft zerschnitt, ein furchtbares Zeichen im Toben der Schlacht.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how even the most formidable power can be checked by a small failure of means (the bowstring slipping). In the ethical frame of the Mahābhārata, it underscores the fragility of human control in war and the way fate, circumstance, and minute lapses can overturn confidence and alter outcomes.
Sañjaya describes an arrow shot by Karṇa: it is terrifying and radiant like fire and the sun. Yet it is said to be ‘guṇacyuta’—having slipped from the bowstring—so it flies up into the sky, blazing through the atmosphere, suggesting a misfire or an ominous deviation amid the battle.