Shloka 26

Devanagari script

ये वै षण्ढतिलास्तत्र भवितारोडद्य ते तिला: | हते वैकर्तने कर्णे सूतपुत्रे दुरात्मनि,“जो पाण्डव वहाँ थोथे तिलोंके समान नपुंसक कहे गये थे, वे दुरात्मा सूतपुत्र वैकर्तन कर्णके मारे जानेपर आज अच्छे तिल और शूरवीर सिद्ध होंगे

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | ye vai ṣaṇḍhatilās tatra bhavitāro ’dya te tilāḥ | hate vaikartane karṇe sūtaputre durātmani |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “Those very Pāṇḍavas who were there derided as ‘impotent like empty sesame seeds’ will today prove to be true ‘sesame’—men of real substance and valor—now that Karṇa, the charioteer’s son Vaikartana, that wicked one, has been slain.”

Word by Word

येwho (those who)

वैindeed

षण्ढतिलाःeunuch-like sesame (i.e., worthless/impotent men, 'eunuch-sesames')

तत्रthere

भवितारःwill become (ones destined to be)

उद्यtoday/now (as an emphatic temporal particle)

तेthey (those)

तिलाःsesame seeds

हतेwhen (he is) slain / upon being slain

वैकर्तनेin/when Vaikartana (Karna)

कर्णेin/when Karna

सूतपुत्रेin/when the charioteer’s son

दुरात्मनिin/when the evil-souled (one)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Pāṇḍavas

Karṇa (Vaikartana)

Sūtaputra (epithet of Karṇa)

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 highlights the moral reversal of contempt: those mocked as powerless can prove their true worth when circumstances change. It underscores how prideful insults collapse before demonstrated courage and the turning of fate in war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports that with Karṇa’s death, the Pāṇḍavas—previously derided with a humiliating epithet—will now be recognized as genuinely formidable warriors, as the fall of a major champion shifts the balance of the battle.