Shloka 16

अर्जुनकर्णसंनिपातवर्णनम् / The Convergence of Arjuna and Karṇa

Devanagari script

तस्य द्वेषेण संयुक्त: परिदहों धनंजय । आत्मनो मरणे यातो वाध्रीणस इव द्विप:,धनंजय! मैं उसके द्वेषसे निरन्तर जलता रहा। जैसे वाध्रीणस नामक पशु अपनी मौतके लिये ही वधस्थानमें पहुँच जाय, उसी प्रकार मैं भी अपनी मृत्युके लिये कर्णका सामना करने चला गया था

Transliteration

tasya dveṣeṇa saṁyuktaḥ paridaho dhanaṁjaya | ātmano maraṇe yāto vādhṛīṇasa iva dvipaḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Consumed by hatred for him, I kept burning inwardly, O Dhanañjaya. Like the creature called vādhṛīṇasa that goes straight to the place of slaughter for its own death, so too I went to face Karṇa as though to meet my own end.”

Word by Word

तस्यof him/that (person)

द्वेषेणby hatred

संयुक्तःjoined/associated (with)

परिदहन्burning (within), being scorched

धनंजयO Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)

आत्मनःof myself

मरणेin/unto death

यातःgone, proceeded

वाध्रीणसःVādhṛīṇasa (name of an animal)

इवlike, as

द्विपःelephant

Speaker

युधिषछ्िर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Dhanañjaya (Arjuna)

Karṇa

vādhṛīṇasa

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse warns that hatred (dveṣa) can become an inner conflagration (paridāha) that drives one toward reckless, self-harming choices. Even in a dharma-framed war, unchecked aversion clouds judgment and can make a person act as though seeking their own destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Arjuna (Dhanañjaya), confessing that his animosity toward Karṇa had so inflamed him that he went to confront Karṇa in a near-suicidal state of mind, likened to the vādhṛīṇasa creature heading to the slaughter-place.