Shloka 21

काकोपमोपदेशः

The Crow-and-Swan Exemplum as Counsel to Karṇa

Devanagari script

प्रतिविव्याध त॑ तूर्ण तव पुत्रो महीपति:

Transliteration

prativivyādha taṁ tūrṇaṁ tava putro mahīpatiḥ

Translation

Sañjaya said: Your son, O lord of the earth, swiftly struck him back in return—answering blow for blow in the heat of battle, where valor and resolve are tested amid the ruinous ethics of war.

Word by Word

• प्रतिविव्याध: pierced, struck
• Type: Verb
• Root: वि-व्यध् (धातु: व्यध्)
• Form: Perfect (Liṭ), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• तूर्णम्: swiftly
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तूर्ण

• तव: of you, your
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: —, Genitive, Singular

• पुत्रः: son
• पुत्रः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुत्र
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• महीपतिः: king (lord of the earth)
• महीपतिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: महीपति
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra (implied by address mahīpatiḥ and 'your')
• tava putraḥ (Duryodhana / Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son, context-dependent)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the kṣatriya ideal of immediate response and steadfastness in combat, while implicitly pointing to the tragic moral tension of war: skill and duty operate within a larger field of destructive retaliation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that his son quickly delivers a counterstrike, indicating an ongoing exchange of blows between warriors in the Karṇa Parva battle sequence.