Shloka 17
दुर्योधनस्य कर्णप्रार्थना — कृपकर्णसंवादः
Duryodhana’s Appeal to Karna — The Kripa–Karna Dialogue
यो जात: कुण्डलाभ्यां च कवचेन सहैव च । त॑ सूतपुत्रं समरे भीम: कथमयोधयत्,जो जन्मसे ही कवच और कुण्डलोंके साथ उत्पन्न हुआ था, उस सूतपुत्रके साथ समरांगणमें भीमसेनने किस प्रकार युद्ध किया?
sañjaya uvāca | yo jātaḥ kuṇḍalābhyāṃ ca kavacena sahaiva ca | taṃ sūtaputraṃ samare bhīmaḥ katham ayodhayat |
Sañjaya said: “How did Bhīmasena fight in the battlefield against that charioteer’s son—he who was born already bearing the divine earrings and the natural armor?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral and narrative tension between human effort and extraordinary, divinely-given advantages: even a warrior endowed with innate protection (kavaca) and ornaments (kuṇḍala) must still be met in battle through courage, strategy, and adherence to the warrior’s duty.
Sañjaya, narrating the war to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, asks how Bhīma fought against the famed ‘sūtaputra’ (Karṇa), emphasizing Karṇa’s extraordinary birth-marked armor and earrings as a reason the encounter is remarkable.