Shloka 81
हतं वैकर्तनं दृष्टवा हार्दिक्य: किमभाषत । वैकर्तन कर्णको मारा गया देख सात्वतवंशके महाधनुर्धर महारथी हृदिकपुत्र कृतवर्माने क्या कहा? ।। ब्राह्मणा: क्षत्रिया वैश्या यस्य शिक्षामुपासते,अश्वत्थामा हते कर्णे किमभाषत संजय । संजय! थरनुर्वेद प्राप्त करनेकी इच्छावाले ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय और वैश्य जिस बुद्धिमान् द्रोणपुत्रके पास आकर शिक्षा ग्रहण करते हैं, जो सुन्दर रूपसे सम्पन्न, युवक, दर्शनीय तथा महायशस्वी है, उस अश्वत्थामाने कर्णके मारे जानेपर क्या कहा?
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
hataṃ vaikartanaṃ dṛṣṭvā hārdikyaḥ kim abhāṣata |
vaikartane karṇe māre gate dṛṣṭvā sātvata-vaṃśake mahā-dhanurdhare mahā-rathe hṛdika-putre kṛtavarmāṇe kim uvāca |
brāhmaṇāḥ kṣatriyā vaiśyā yasya śikṣām upāsate |
aśvatthāmā hate karṇe kim abhāṣata saṃjaya ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “When Vaikartana (Karna) had been slain, what did Hārdikya (Kṛtavarmā) say upon seeing it? And, Sañjaya, what did Aśvatthāmā say when Karna was killed—Aśvatthāmā, to whom Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas resort for instruction in the science of arms?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how the fall of a major warrior becomes a moral and emotional turning point: it invites reflection on dharma in warfare by focusing not on the act alone but on the responses of influential fighters and teachers of arms—responses that can intensify violence or restrain it.
After Karna (Vaikartana) is killed, the narrator shifts to ask what Kṛtavarmā (Hārdikya) said upon seeing Karna slain, and what Aśvatthāmā said thereafter—setting up the next lines where their reactions and intentions are described.