Shloka 36
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ४०
Karṇa’s Pressure on the Pāñcālas; Duryodhana Disabled; Arjuna’s Counter-Advance
कथमेकेन पातेन हंस: पातशतं जयेत् । एकेनैव शतस्यैष पातेनाभिभविष्यति
katham ekena pātena haṁsaḥ pātaśataṁ jayet | ekenaiva śatasya eṣa pātenābhibhaviṣyati ||
“How could a swan, with a single stroke, overcome a hundred strokes? Rather, by that one stroke alone, he will be overwhelmed by the hundred.”
हंस उवाच
Educational Q&A
A single effort or advantage is often insufficient against a sustained, collective force; wise action requires realistic assessment of relative strength and the cumulative power of many.
A speaker identified as ‘the Swan’ offers a pointed rhetorical argument: one stroke cannot defeat a hundred; instead, the lone actor is likely to be overwhelmed—serving as counsel about strategy and caution in the surrounding war-time discourse.