Shloka 33
कर्णभीमसमागमः | Karṇa–Bhīma Encounter
अब्रवीच्च पुन: कर्ण स्तूयमान: सुतस्तव । जहि पार्थान् रणे सर्वान् महेन्द्रो दानवानिव
abravīc ca punaḥ karṇa stūyamānaḥ sutas tava | jahi pārthān raṇe sarvān mahendro dānavān iva ||
Sañjaya said: Then your son, while being praised by the bards and hearing their eulogies, spoke again to Karṇa: “O hero, slay all the Pārthas in battle, just as great Indra destroys the Dānavas.” The utterance casts killing as a celebrated ideal of martial success, showing how courtly praise and warrior ethos can intensify the drive toward total annihilation rather than restraint.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how public praise and heroic comparison can normalize extreme violence: the king’s son urges total destruction of the enemy, invoking Indra’s mythic slaying of Dānavas as a model. Ethically, it exposes the tension between martial glory and restraint (dharma) in war.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Duryodhana—encouraged by bards’ praise—again exhorts Karṇa to kill all the Pāṇḍavas in the battle, likening Karṇa’s task to Indra’s defeat of the Dānavas.