Mahabharata — Karna Parva, Shloka 16
धर्मरहस्योपदेशः
Dharma-rahasya Instruction: Vows, Truth, and Non-injury
ईदृशं नास्य रूप॑ मे दृष्टपूर्व कदाचन । अभिमनयौ हते कर्ण राक्षसे च घटोत्कचे,कर्ण! अभिमन्यु तथा घटोत्कच राक्षसके मारे जानेपर भी पहले कभी मैंने इनका ऐसा रूप नहीं देखा था
īdṛśaṃ nāsya rūpaṃ me dṛṣṭapūrvaṃ kadācana | abhimanyau hate karṇa rākṣase ca ghaṭotkace ||
Shalya said: “Never before have I seen him in such a state. O Karna, even when Abhimanyu was slain, and when the rākṣasa Ghaṭotkaca was killed, I did not see this kind of expression and condition in him.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the visible ‘rūpa’ (expression/condition) of a warrior can reveal inner turmoil beyond ordinary grief, suggesting that some losses or reversals in war strike at one’s moral and emotional foundations more deeply than even earlier tragedies.
Shalya addresses Karna and remarks that he has never before seen the concerned person (implied from context) in such a state—neither at Abhimanyu’s death nor at the killing of Ghaṭotkaca—thereby emphasizing the exceptional intensity of the present moment in the battle narrative.