Shloka 43
Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 25 — Bhīma’s Disruption of Elephant Formations and Bhagadatta’s Shock Advance
ते चैनं भृशसंतप्ता: शरवर्षरवाकिरन् । स च तांश्छादयामास शरजालै: पुन: पुन:,तब वे अत्यन्त संतप्त हो कर्णपर बाणोंकी झड़ी लगाने लगे और कर्णने भी अपने बाणोंके समूहसे उन्हें बार-बार आच्छादित कर दिया
te cainaṁ bhṛśa-santaptāḥ śara-varṣa-ravākiran | sa ca tāṁś chādayāmāsa śara-jālaiḥ punaḥ punaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Then, tormented exceedingly, they poured upon him a roaring rain of arrows. And he, in turn, again and again covered them over with dense nets of shafts—answering their fury with relentless martial skill amid the moral darkness of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in the battlefield’s heat, suffering and anger quickly intensify into reciprocal violence. Ethically, it reflects the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension: kṣatriya prowess and duty operate within a tragic cycle where retaliation multiplies harm rather than resolving it.
A group of warriors, severely distressed, unleash a loud, continuous volley of arrows at Karṇa. Karṇa responds by repeatedly blanketing them with dense barrages—an exchange of missile-fire where each side attempts to overwhelm the other through sustained archery.