Shloka 86
स पार्थबाणासनवेगमुक्ति- दृढाहतः पत्रिभिरुग्रवेगै:,अर्जुनके धनुषसे वेगपूर्वक छूटे हुए भयंकर वेगशाली बाणोंद्वारा गहरी चोट खाकर कर्णके सारे अंग विदीर्ण हो गये। वह खूनसे नहा उठा और रौद्र मुहूर्तमें श्मशानके भीतर क्रीड़ा करते हुए, बाणोंसे व्याप्त एवं रक्तसे भीगे शरीरवाले रुद्रदेवके समान प्रतीत होने लगा
sa pārthabāṇāsanavegamukti-dṛḍāhataḥ patribhir ugravegaiḥ | arjunakena dhanuṣaḥ vegapūrvakaṃ chūṭeṣu bhayaṅkaravegaśāliṣu bāṇaiḥ gāḍhaṃ hataḥ karṇasya sarvāṅgāni vidīrṇāni | sa śoṇitena snātaḥ raudre muhūrte śmaśānasya madhye krīḍan bāṇavyāptaḥ raktabhīge śarīreṇa rudradevasya iva pratibhāti ||
Sañjaya said: Struck hard by the fierce, swift arrows released from Arjuna’s bow with irresistible force, Karṇa’s limbs were torn and split. Bathed in blood, he appeared—at that dreadful moment—like Rudra himself sporting in a cremation-ground: his body bristling with arrows and drenched in gore. The passage heightens the moral gravity of the war by portraying heroic endurance amid devastation, while invoking Rudra to mark the scene as both terrifying and awe-inspiring rather than merely triumphant.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the grim ethical weight of kṣatriya warfare: even the greatest heroes are reduced to suffering bodies, and victory is inseparable from horror. By likening the blood-soaked, arrow-covered Karṇa to Rudra in a cremation-ground, the text frames battle as a realm where destructive power and awe coexist—warning against romanticizing violence while acknowledging the terrible grandeur of duty-bound combat.
Sañjaya reports that Arjuna’s rapidly released, fierce arrows strike Karṇa with great force, tearing his limbs and drenching him in blood. In that dreadful moment Karṇa’s appearance is compared to Rudra roaming a cremation-ground—his body bristling with arrows and soaked in blood—intensifying the scene’s terror and majesty.