Shloka 4
कर्ण-पाण्डव-संमर्दः — Karṇa and Arjuna’s Intensified Engagement
कथं च युयुधे भीमो वीर्यश्लाघी महाबल: । कर्णो वा समरे तात किमकार्षीत् ततः परम् | भीमसेनं रणे दृष्टवा ज्वलन्तमिव पावकम्,तात! अपने पराक्रमसे सुशोभित होनेवाले महाबली भीमसेनने किस प्रकार युद्ध किया? अथवा कर्णने रणक्षेत्रमें भीमसेनको अग्निके समान तेजसे प्रज्वलित होते देख उसके बाद क्या किया?
kathaṃ ca yuyudhe bhīmo vīryaślāghī mahābalaḥ | karṇo vā samare tāta kimakārṣīt tataḥ param || bhīmasenaṃ raṇe dṛṣṭvā jvalantam iva pāvakam, tāta! apane parākramase suśobhita honevāle mahābalī bhīmasenane kis prakār yuddha kiyā? athavā karṇane raṇakṣetram̐ bhīmasenako agnike samān tejase prajvalita hote dekh uske bād kyā kiyā?
“How did Bhīma—mighty and proud of his valor—fight? Or, my son, when Karṇa saw Bhīmasena on the battlefield blazing like fire, what did he do thereafter?”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames battlefield conduct through the lens of heroic reputation: it highlights how extraordinary valor invites scrutiny and narration, and it implicitly raises the ethical question of how power and pride (vīryaślāghā) are displayed and answered in war.
Karna is speaking and asking for an account of Bhima’s manner of fighting and, specifically, what Karna did next after seeing Bhima blazing on the battlefield like fire—setting up a description of subsequent combat actions.