Mahabharata 7.175.58 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 175, Shloka 58
जहि कर्ण महेष्वासं निशीथे मायया रणे । पार्था द्रोणं वधिष्यन्ति धृष्टद्युम्नपुरोगमा:
jahi karṇa maheṣvāsaṃ niśīthe māyayā raṇe | pārthā droṇaṃ vadhiṣyanti dhṛṣṭadyumnapurogamāḥ ||
Vāyu said: “Slay Karṇa, that great archer, on the battlefield at midnight by means of your stratagem. Then the sons of Pṛthā, led by Dhṛṣṭadyumna, will bring about the death of Droṇa.”
श्रीवायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral tension of warfare: strategic necessity (night attack and deception) is presented as a means to decisive outcomes, suggesting how dharma becomes contested and compromised under extreme conflict.
Vāyu addresses a listener (implied commander/agent) with a directive and prediction: Karṇa is to be killed at midnight through a stratagem, and thereafter the Pāṇḍavas, led by Dhṛṣṭadyumna, will kill Droṇa.
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