Shloka 49
घतराट्र उवबाच यत् तद्वैकर्तनं कर्णमगमद् वो मनस्तदा । अप्यपश्यत राधेयं सूतपुत्र॑ तनुत्यजम्
Dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca: yat tad Vaikartanaṃ Karṇam agamad vo manas tadā | api apaśyata Rādheyaṃ sūtaputraṃ tanutyajam ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “When your thoughts then turned toward Karṇa, the son of Vikartana, did you also see Rādheya—the charioteer’s son—lying there, having given up his body?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral weight of war’s outcomes: even the powerful are reduced to anxious inquiry about death and loss. It implicitly points to the bitter fruition of choices driven by attachment and unrighteous ambition—when adharma guides policy, the end is lamentation and irreversible ruin.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions the narrators (addressed as 'you all') about Karṇa. He asks whether, when their attention turned to Karṇa, they actually saw him lying dead—described through his epithets Vaikartana and Rādheya, and as the sūta’s son who has abandoned his body.