Shloka 59
दुर्योधन-कर्ण-संवादः
Duryodhana–Karna Dialogue on Vyūha-bheda and Daiva
ब्राह्मणेन तपो नूनं चरितं दुश्चरं महत् । तथा हि युधि संक्रुद्धों दहति क्षत्रियर्षभान्
brāhmaṇena tapo nūnaṃ caritaṃ duścaraṃ mahat | tathā hi yudhi saṃkruddho dahati kṣatriyarṣabhān ||
Sañjaya said: “Surely this brāhmaṇa has practiced a great and arduous austerity; for, when enraged in battle, he burns down the foremost of kṣatriyas.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the formidable potency of tapas: spiritual discipline can generate a force that, when joined with anger in war, becomes devastating. It implicitly warns that inner power is ethically double-edged—capable of protection or destruction depending on the bearer’s state of mind.
Sañjaya, narrating the battlefield events, marvels at a brāhmaṇa’s extraordinary might. Observing how, when provoked in combat, he can ‘burn’ even the best kṣatriya warriors, Sañjaya attributes this to severe austerities previously performed.