Shloka 42
कर्णपरर्वणि त्रयोचत्वारिंशदध्यायः (Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 43) — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Assessment and the Reversal Around Bhīma
तयोरपत्यं वाहीका नैषा सृष्टि: प्रजापते: । ते कथं विविधान् धर्मान् ज्ञास्यन्ते हीनयोनय:,विपाशा (व्यास) नदीमें दो पिशाच रहते हैं। एकका नाम है बहि और दूसरेका नाम है हीक। इन्हीं दोनोंकी संतानें बाहीक कहलाती हैं। ब्रह्माजीने इनकी सृष्टि नहीं की है। वे नीच योनिमें उत्पन्न हुए मनुष्य नाना प्रकारके धर्मोंको कैसे जानेंगे?
tayor apatyaṃ vāhīkā naiṣā sṛṣṭiḥ prajāpateḥ | te kathaṃ vividhān dharmān jñāsyante hīna-yonayaḥ ||
Karna said: “The Vāhīkas are the offspring of those two; this is not a creation of Prajāpati. How could people born of a base womb ever understand the many forms of dharma?”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a polemical claim that ethical understanding (dharma-jñāna) is unlikely in those deemed of ‘base origin.’ In context, it functions more as wartime rhetoric and social denigration than as a neutral philosophical doctrine.
Karna is speaking and disparages the Vāhīkas, asserting they are not a creation of Prajāpati and therefore cannot know the varieties of dharma—an insult used to undermine their moral and social standing.