Shloka 29
कर्णवधोत्तरं शल्य-दुर्योधनसंवादः
Aftermath of Karṇa’s Fall: Śalya’s Address to Duryodhana
मासे5पतिष्य: पज्चमे त्वं सुकृच्छे न वा गर्भे आभविष्य: पृथाया:
māse ’patīṣyaḥ pañcame tvaṃ sukṛcchre na vā garbhe ābhaviṣyaḥ pṛthāyāḥ
Sañjaya said: “In the fifth month you would have been cast away—into grievous hardship; or else you would not have come to be in Pṛthā’s womb at all.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how precarious human life and identity can be—shaped by hidden circumstances of birth and abandonment—inviting reflection on compassion and ethical judgment beyond mere social status or origin.
Sañjaya reports a pointed remark about someone’s origin: that in the fifth month the person would have been abandoned into hardship, or otherwise would not have existed in Pṛthā (Kuntī)’s womb—evoking the theme of concealed birth and the suffering tied to it.