Shloka 23
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ४०
Karṇa’s Pressure on the Pāñcālas; Duryodhana Disabled; Arjuna’s Counter-Advance
कथं हंसं नु बलिनं चक्राड़ं दूरपातिनम् । काको भूत्वा निपतने समाह्नयसि दुर्मते
kathaṁ haṁsaṁ nu balinaṁ cakrāḍaṁ dūrapātinam | kāko bhūtvā nipatane samāhnayasi durmate ||
Sañjaya said: “How, O foolish-minded one, do you challenge to a swoop a powerful haṁsa—one that strikes like a discus and can fly far—when you yourself are but a crow?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns against reckless overconfidence: one should not provoke a far stronger opponent while lacking the capacity to meet the challenge. It highlights the ethical value of discernment (viveka) and the danger of pride that ignores one’s true strength.
Sañjaya reports a taunting rebuke framed as a bird-simile: a crow (weak) presumptuously challenges a powerful haṁsa (strong, far-flying, and striking like a discus). The line functions as battlefield invective, portraying an ill-judged challenge in the Karṇa Parva conflict.