Shloka 17
कर्णेन मे महाबाहो सर्वसैन्यस्यथ पश्यत:,“महाधनुर्धर! महाबाहो! मैं युद्धमें यत्नपूर्वक लगा हुआ था, किंतु कर्णने सारी सेनाके देखते-देखते अपने बाणोंद्वारा मेरे कवच, ध्वज, धनुष, शक्ति, घोड़े और बाणोंके टुकड़े- टुकड़े कर डाले हैं!
sañjaya uvāca — karṇena me mahābāho sarvasainyasya atha paśyataḥ; mahādhanurdhara mahābāho yuddhe yatnapūrvakaṃ lagna āsam, kintu karṇena sarvasainyasya paśyataḥ svabāṇaiḥ mama kavaca-dhvaja-dhanuḥ-śakti-aśva-bāṇānāṃ khaṇḍa-khaṇḍaṃ kṛtam.
Sañjaya said: “O mighty-armed one, while the entire army looked on, Karṇa shattered my armor, my banner, my bow, my spear, my horses, and my arrows—splintering them into pieces with his shafts. Though I was striving with full effort in the battle, his prowess broke through my defenses before all.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between personal effort (yatna) and overpowering force on the battlefield: even a diligent warrior can be undone when confronted by a superior archer. Ethically, it underscores how public witnessing (sarvasainyasya paśyataḥ) shapes honor and reputation in kṣatriya warfare.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Karna, in full view of the assembled army, used his arrows to smash the narrator’s key martial supports—armor, standard, weapons, horses, and arrows—reducing them to fragments despite the narrator’s strenuous engagement in combat.