Shloka 25
ततोडब्रवीन्मद्रराजो महात्मा दृष्टवा कर्ण प्रहितेषुं तमुग्रम् । न कर्ण ग्रीवामिषुरेष लप्स्यते समीक्ष्य संधत्स्व शरं शिरोध्रम्
tato ’bravīn madrarājo mahātmā dṛṣṭvā karṇa prahiteṣuṁ tam ugraṁ | na karṇa grīvām iṣur eṣa lapsyate samīkṣya sandhatsva śaraṁ śirodhram ||
Sañjaya said: Then the great-souled king of Madra, Śalya, seeing Karṇa poised to discharge that fierce arrow, spoke: “Karṇa, this arrow of yours will not find the enemy’s neck. Therefore, reflect carefully and re-aim—fit your shaft so that it will strike to sever the head.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how counsel (even from a respected figure) can be directed toward adharma in wartime: strategic intelligence and persuasive speech may intensify violence rather than restrain it, showing the ethical corrosion that prolonged conflict can produce.
Sañjaya reports that Śalya, seeing Karṇa readying a powerful arrow, tells him it will not strike the enemy’s neck and urges him to re-aim so the shot becomes ‘head-severing’—a tactical prompt to make the attack more decisively lethal.