Shloka 1613
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
कथमादित्यसदृशं मृगी व्यात्रं जनिष्यति । शल्य! मैं सर्वथा इस बातपर विश्वास करता हूँ कि इस कर्णका जन्म सूतकुलमें नहीं हुआ है। इस महाबाहु महारथी और सूर्यके समान तेजस्वी कुण्डल-कवचविभूषित पुत्रको सूतजातिकी स्त्री कैसे पैदा कर सकती है? क्या कोई हरिणी अपने पेटसे बाघको जन्म दे सकी है?
Duryodhana uvāca: katham āditya-sadṛśaṁ mṛgī vyāghraṁ janiṣyati? Śalya, ahaṁ sarvathā etad viśvasimi yat asya Karṇasya janma sūta-kule na jātaṁ. asya mahā-bāhoḥ mahā-rathinaḥ sūrya-sama-tejasaḥ kuṇḍala-kavaca-vibhūṣitasya putrasya sūta-jātikī strī kathaṁ prasaviṣyati? kiṁ vā mṛgī udarāt vyāghraṁ janayet?
Duryodhana said: “How could a doe give birth to a tiger that is like the Sun? Śalya, I am wholly convinced that Karṇa was not born in a charioteer’s lineage. How could a woman of the sūta caste bear this mighty-armed, great chariot-warrior—radiant like the Sun and adorned with earrings and armor? Has any doe ever brought forth a tiger from her womb?”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how social assumptions about birth and caste are used rhetorically to assign honor or legitimacy. Duryodhana argues that extraordinary excellence must imply extraordinary origin, revealing both admiration for Karṇa and the ethical tension in judging worth by lineage rather than conduct.
During the Karṇa Parva, Duryodhana addresses Śalya and insists that Karṇa cannot truly be of sūta birth. He uses a striking metaphor—‘a doe cannot give birth to a tiger’—to claim that Karṇa’s sun-like brilliance and martial stature prove a higher origin.