Shloka 39
अर्जुनकर्णसंनिपातवर्णनम् / The Convergence of Arjuna and Karṇa
जिस दुष्टबुद्धिवाले कर्णने कौरव-वीरोंके बीच भरी सभामें द्रौपदीसे कहा था कि 'कृष्णे! तू इन अत्यन्त दुर्बल, पतित और शक्तिहीन पाण्डवोंको छोड़ क्यों नहीं देती?” ।। योड्सौ कर्ण: प्रत्यजानात्त्वदर्थ नाहं हत्वा सह कृष्णेन पार्थम् | इहोपयातेति स पापबुद्धि: कच्चिच्छेते शरसम्मभिन्नगात्र:,“जिस कर्णने तुम्हारे लिये यह प्रतिज्ञा की थी कि “आज मैं श्रीकृष्णसहित अर्जुनको मारे बिना यहाँ नहीं लौटूँगा” क्या वह पापात्मा तुम्हारे बाणोंसे छिन्न-भिन्न होकर धरतीपर पड़ा है?
yo 'sau karṇaḥ pratyajānāt tvad-arthaṃ nāhaṃ hatvā saha kṛṣṇena pārtham | ihopeyāteti sa pāpa-buddhiḥ kaccic chete śara-samabhinna-gātraḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “That Karṇa of wicked intent—who, for your sake, vowed, ‘I shall not return here without slaying Pārtha (Arjuna) together with Kṛṣṇa’—does he now lie on the earth, his limbs torn apart by your arrows?”
युधिषछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
A boastful vow rooted in adharma and cruelty—especially when tied to public humiliation and contempt—invites ruin. The verse highlights moral causality: arrogance and wicked intent meet their end when confronted by steadfast, dharma-aligned resistance.
Yudhiṣṭhira questions Arjuna about Karṇa’s fate. He recalls Karṇa’s earlier insolence and his battlefield vow to return only after killing Arjuna along with Kṛṣṇa, and asks whether Karṇa now lies slain, his body shattered by Arjuna’s arrows.