Shloka 3
पुन: पुनस्तूबरक मूढ औदरिकेति च । अकृतास्त्रक मा योत्सीर्बाल संग्रामकातर,“धनंजय! कर्णने तुम्हारे सामने ही मुझसे बारंबार कहा है कि “अरे! तू निमूछिया, मूर्ख, पेटू, अस्त्रविद्याको न जाननेवाला, बालक और संग्रामभीरु है; अतः युद्ध न कर।” भारत! जो ऐसा कह दे, वह मेरा वध्य होता है। उसने मुझे ऐसा कह दिया
punaḥ punaḥ stubaraka mūḍha audarike ti ca | akṛtāstraka mā yotsīr bāla saṅgrāma-kātara iti |
Sañjaya said: “Again and again Karṇa spoke to me, right in your presence, Dhanañjaya: ‘Hey you beardless one, you fool, you glutton, you who have not mastered weapons—childish and frightened of battle—do not fight!’ O Bhārata, whoever speaks to me in such a way becomes fit to be slain by me; and he has spoken to me so.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how harsh speech and public humiliation can escalate conflict: in a warrior code centered on honor, repeated insults are treated as a grave offense that demands response, raising ethical questions about restraint versus retaliation.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Karṇa repeatedly mocked and belittled him in Arjuna’s presence—calling him beardless, foolish, gluttonous, untrained, childish, and battle-fearful—and Sañjaya declares that such an insulter becomes, in his view, worthy of being slain.