Shloka 31

Devanagari script

पाण्डवेयान्‌ महाराज शरैरवारितवान्‌ रणे । भारत! महाराज! यह अद्धुत पराक्रम मैंने अपनी आँखों देखा था कि अकेले प्रतापी सूतपुत्रने समरांगणमें पूरी शक्ति लगाकर प्रयत्नपूर्वक युद्ध करनेवाले पाण्डव-पक्षीय धनुर्धर वीरोंको अपने बाणोंद्वारा रणभूमिमें आगे बढ़नेसे रोक दिया ।। तत्र भारत कर्णस्य लाघवेन महात्मन:

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | pāṇḍaveyān mahārāja śarair avāritavān raṇe | tatra bhārata karṇasya lāghavena mahātmanaḥ |

Translation

Sañjaya said: “O King, in that battle he checked the sons of Pāṇḍu with his arrows. There, O Bhārata, by the swift, deft skill of the great-souled Karṇa, the Pāṇḍava-side archers—though striving with full strength and intent on fighting—were held back on the field and prevented from advancing. Sañjaya spoke of it as a marvel he had witnessed with his own eyes.”

Word by Word

• {'pāṇḍaveyān': 'the sons/descendants of Pāṇḍu

• the Pāṇḍavas', 'mahārāja': 'O great king (address to Dhṛtarāṣṭra)', 'śaraiḥ': 'with arrows', 'avāritavān': 'checked, restrained, prevented (from advancing)', 'raṇe': 'in battle', 'tatra': 'there, in that context/scene', 'bhārata': 'O Bhārata (descendant of Bharata

• address to the Kuru king)', 'karṇasya': 'of Karṇa', 'lāghavena': 'by quickness, lightness of hand

• dexterity/swiftness (especially in archery)', 'mahātmanaḥ': 'of the great-souled/noble one'}

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sañjaya
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Pāṇḍavas (Pāṇḍaveyāḥ)
• Karṇa
• arrows (śara)
• battlefield (raṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how extraordinary capability (lāghava, swift mastery in archery) can decisively shape events, yet it also implicitly raises an ethical tension: prowess is admirable, but in the Mahābhārata it is often employed within a tragic, morally complex war where victory and righteousness do not always coincide.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Karṇa, fighting alone with great speed and skill, used his arrows to halt the Pāṇḍava warriors on the battlefield, preventing their advance and creating a striking scene of battlefield dominance.