Shloka 20
Arjuna’s Approach, Drona’s Recognition, and the Turning of the Cattle (अर्जुनागमनम्, द्रोणवाक्यम्, गोगमनिवृत्तिः)
शत्रोर्मया विपन्नानां भूतानां ध्वजवासिनाम् | दिश: प्रतिष्ठमानानामस्तु शब्दो दिवंगम:
śatror mayā vipannānāṃ bhūtānāṃ dhvajavāsinām | diśaḥ pratiṣṭhamānānām astu śabdo divaṅgamaḥ ||
Karna sprach: „Möge der Schrei jener Wesen, die auf dem Banner des Feindes wohnen—nun von mir niedergestreckt und in ihre ihnen bestimmten Himmelsrichtungen scheidend—emporsteigen und in den Himmel dringen.“
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the warrior ethos of the epic: triumph in battle is voiced as a heaven-reaching proclamation, while also implying that violent acts carry immediate consequences—death and departure to their allotted destiny.
Karna speaks in a martial, triumphant tone, describing the enemy’s banner-associated beings as slain by him and imagining their departing cries resounding upward toward heaven—an image of battlefield omen and boast.