Shloka 21
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
ईषा नक्षत्रवंशश्व॒ युग: कृतयुगो5भवत्,नक्षत्रोंका समूह ईषादण्ड हुआ और कृतयुगने जूएका रूप धारण किया। नागराज वासुकि उस रथका कूबर बन गये थे। हिमालय पर्वत अपस्कर (रथके पीछेका काठ) और विन्ध्याचलने उसके आधारकाष्ठका रूप धारण किया। उदयाचल और अस्ताचल दोनोंको उन श्रेष्ठ देवताओंने पहियोंका आधारभूत काष्ठ बनाया
īṣā nakṣatravaṃśaś ca yugaḥ kṛtayugo 'bhavat | nakṣatrāṇāṃ samūha īṣādaṇḍo babhūva ca | vāsukir nāgarājo 'sya rathasya kūbaro 'bhavat | himavān apaskaro 'bhūd vindhyaś cādhārakāṣṭhavat | udayācalaś cāstācalaś ca tayor devair mahātmabhiḥ | cakrapratiṣṭhākāṣṭhāni kṛtāni rathasaṃyuge ||
Duryodhana said: “The pole of that cosmic chariot became the line of the constellations, and the yoke took the form of the Kṛta-yuga. The gathered host of stars became the pole-staff. Vāsuki, king of serpents, became the chariot’s yoke-pin. The Himalaya became the rear crossbar, and the Vindhya became the supporting beam. Udayācala and Astācala were fashioned by those exalted divine beings into the wooden supports on which the wheels are set.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses cosmic-chariot imagery to magnify a martial enterprise by mapping parts of a chariot onto the universe (stars, yugas, mountains, serpent-king). Ethically, it reflects how power and ambition can seek legitimacy through grand mythic symbolism—an epic reminder that rhetorical grandeur does not itself establish dharma.
Duryodhana describes a wondrous, cosmic-scale chariot construction: constellations become the pole, the Kṛta-yuga becomes the yoke, Vāsuki becomes the fastening pin, and great mountains become structural timbers and wheel-bases. The passage functions as an elevated description (utprekṣā-like) to intensify the scene’s mythic atmosphere in the Karṇa Parva war context.