Shloka 26
कर्णार्जुनसमागमः — The Karṇa–Arjuna Confrontation
Cosmic Spectatorship and Vows
विगाह्[ तां पाण्डवबाणवदवृुष्टिं शरै: परं नाम ततः प्रकाश्य । शतेन कृष्णं सहसाभ्यविद्ध्यत् त्रिभि: शतैरजुन क्षुद्रकाणाम्
vigāhya tāṃ pāṇḍava-bāṇa-vadavṛṣṭiṃ śaraiḥ paraṃ nāma tataḥ prakāśya | śatena kṛṣṇaṃ sahasābhyavidhyat tribhiḥ śatair arjunaṃ kṣudrakāṇām ||
Sañjaya said: Plunging into the storm of arrows loosed by the Pāṇḍavas, he proclaimed his supreme name and, in a sudden assault, struck Kṛṣṇa with a hundred shafts and Arjuna with three hundred small, piercing arrows.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the kṣatriya ideal of fearlessly entering danger and asserting one’s martial identity, while also reminding the reader that even valorous skill unfolds within a larger moral tragedy where dharma is contested and suffering is amplified by pride and rivalry.
In Sañjaya’s report from the battlefield, a warrior charges into the Pāṇḍavas’ dense arrow-barrage, proclaims his famed name/epithet as a battle-cry, and rapidly wounds Kṛṣṇa with a hundred arrows and Arjuna with three hundred smaller shafts.