Shloka 159
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
नापि सूतकुले जात॑ कर्ण मन््ये कथंचन,राजन! मैं किसी तरह इस बातपर विश्वास नहीं करता कि कर्ण सूतकुलमें उत्पन्न हुआ है। मैं इसे क्षत्रियकुलमें उत्पन्न देवपुत्र मानता हूँ। मेरा तो यह विश्वास है कि इसकी माताने अपने गुप्त रहस्यको छिपानेके लिये तथा इसे अन्य कुलका बालक विख्यात करनेके लिये ही सूतकुलमें छोड़ दिया होगा
nāpi sūtakule jātaṁ karṇa manye kathaṁcana | rājan! naiva me viśvāsaḥ kathaṁcid atra vartate yat karṇaḥ sūtakule samutpannaḥ | tam ahaṁ kṣatriyakule jātaṁ devaputram iva manye | mama tu viśvāsa eṣaḥ—tasya mātā svaguhyarahasyaṁ gopayituṁ tathā cainaṁ anyakulabālaka iti vikhyāpayituṁ sūtakule parityajya sthāpayām āsa ||
Duryodhana said: “Karna, I do not believe in any way that you were born in a charioteer’s lineage, among the Sūtas. O King, I cannot accept that claim at all. I regard you as a divine-born son, born in a Kshatriya house. My conviction is this: your mother, in order to conceal her secret and to have you known as a child of another family, must have abandoned you among the Sūtas.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how social identity and honor are contested in epic ethics: Duryodhana rejects a stigmatized birth-label for Karna and asserts a nobler origin, showing how loyalty and political alliance can reshape narratives of status—yet also revealing the Mahabharata’s tension between birth-based hierarchy and personal worth.
In the Karna Parva war setting, Duryodhana speaks to affirm Karna’s dignity and legitimacy. He denies that Karna is truly of Sūta birth and proposes that Karna’s mother hid her secret by abandoning him among the Sūtas, thereby explaining Karna’s public reputation while elevating him as Kshatriya/divine-born.