Shloka 16

Devanagari script

संजय उवाच शृणु राजन्‌ यथावृत्तं संग्रामं कर्णभीमयो: । परस्परवधप्रेप्स्वोर्वनकुज्जरयोरिव,संजयने कहा--राजन्‌! कर्ण और भीमसेनके युद्धका यथावत्‌ वृत्तान्त सुनिये। वे दोनों जंगली हाथियोंके समान एक-दूसरेके वधके लिये उत्सुक थे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca śṛṇu rājan yathāvṛttaṃ saṅgrāmaṃ karṇabhīmayōḥ | parasparavadhaprepsvor vanakuñjarayor iva ||

Translation

Sañjaya said: O King, hear the battle between Karṇa and Bhīma exactly as it occurred. Like two wild elephants in the forest, each was intent on the other’s death.

Word by Word

संजयःSanjaya

उवाचsaid

शृणुhear, listen

राजन्O king

यथा-वृत्तम्as it happened, in due order

संग्रामम्battle

कर्ण-भीमयोःof Karna and Bhima

परस्पर-वध-प्रेप्स्वोःof the two eager to slay each other

वन-कुञ्जरयोःof two wild elephants

इवlike, as

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Karṇa

Bhīma (Bhīmasena)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how intense enmity in war can reduce combatants to a single-minded urge to kill, likened to wild elephants. Implicitly, it warns that such fixation can overshadow restraint and the wider demands of dharma, even when one is acting within a warrior’s battlefield role.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya begins reporting to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra the detailed account of the duel-like battle between Karṇa and Bhīma, emphasizing that both fighters are fiercely eager to slay one another.