Shloka 38
कर्णेन सैन्यस्थापनं तथा नानायुद्धसमवायः
Karna Reforms the Host and Multiple Duels Converge
सीधो: पान॑ गुरुतल्पावमर्दों भ्रूणहत्या परवित्तापहार: | येषां धर्मस्तान् प्रति नास्त्यधर्म आरडट्टजान् पञ्चनदान् धिगस्तु
sīdhoḥ pānaṁ gurutalpāvamardo bhrūṇahatyā paravittāpahāraḥ | yeṣāṁ dharmas tān prati nāsty adharma ārāḍṭṭajān pañcanadān dhig astu ||
Karna said: “Drinking intoxicants, violating the teacher’s bed, killing an embryo, and stealing another’s wealth—toward those whose very ‘dharma’ consists of such acts, there can be no question of ‘adharma’ (in opposing them). Shame upon those born of such disgrace—those men of the land of the five rivers.”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses moral indictment to argue that opposing people characterized by grave transgressions is not ‘adharma’; it frames warfare as ethically justified when directed against those portrayed as fundamentally unrighteous.
In the Karna Parva battle context, Karna delivers a harsh denunciation of the opposing side (or a targeted group), listing notorious sins and concluding with a curse-like ‘shame’ directed at the Pañcanada people, as part of his rhetorical justification and provocation.