Shloka 8
यथा वराहस्य शुनश्च युध्यतो- स्तयोरभावे श्वपचस्य लाभ: । मन्ये विद्वन् वासुदेवस्य तद्धद् युद्धे लाभ: कर्णहैडिम्बयोर्व,विद्वन! जैसे सूअर और कुत्तेके आपसमें लड़नेपर उन दोनोंमेंसे किसीकी भी मृत्यु हो जाय तो चाण्डालको लाभ ही होता है, उसी प्रकार कर्ण और घटोत्कचके युद्धमें मैं वसुदेवनन्दन श्रीकृष्णका ही लाभ हुआ मानता हूँ
śrīvāyudeva uvāca |
yathā varāhasya śunaś ca yudhyatoḥ tayor abhāve śvapacasya lābhaḥ |
manye vidvan vāsudevasya tadvat yuddhe lābhaḥ karṇa-ghaṭotkacayoḥ ||
Śrī Vāyudeva said: “Just as when a boar and a dog fight, if either is destroyed, the gain ultimately goes to a carrion-eater (an outcaste) who profits from the carcass—so too, learned one, in the battle between Karṇa and Ghaṭotkaca, I judge that the real beneficiary is Vāsudeva’s son, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.”
श्रीवायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a hard-edged wartime ethic: when two fierce combatants destroy each other or are diminished, a third party may gain. Vāyudeva interprets the Karṇa–Ghaṭotkaca clash as ultimately serving Kṛṣṇa’s strategic aim in the war, highlighting how outcomes can benefit someone beyond the immediate fighters.
Vāyudeva comments on the duel between Karṇa and Ghaṭotkaca. Using the analogy of a boar and a dog fighting—where an outcaste profits from whichever carcass results—he concludes that the true ‘profit’ of their battle accrues to Kṛṣṇa, whose side benefits from the weakening or removal of either formidable warrior.