Shloka 3
उस महासमरमें अर्जुन कुपित होकर कर्णके वधके लिये जिस-जिस अस्त्रका वेगपूर्वक प्रयोग करते थे, उसे आकाशमें ही कर्ण अपने भयंकर बाणोंद्वारा काट देता था ।।
sañjaya uvāca |
usa mahāsamare 'rjunaḥ kupitaḥ karṇasya vadhāya yān yān astrān vegapūrvakaṃ prayuṅkte sma, tān tān ākāśa eva karṇaḥ svair bhīṣaṇaiḥ bāṇaiś chittvā nāśayati sma ||
udīryamāṇaṃ samare kurūn dahantaṃ suvarṇapuṅkhair viśikhair amamarda |
karṇas tv amogheṣv asanaṃ dṛḍhajyaṃ visphārayitvā visṛjaj charaughān ||
Sanjaya said: In that great battle, Arjuna—angered and intent on Karna’s death—kept hurling various weapons with tremendous force. Yet Karna, with his dreadful arrows, cut them down in mid-air itself. Drawing and fully stretching his unfailing bow with its taut, sturdy string, Karna released a torrent of shafts. With golden-feathered arrows he crushed and neutralized the weapon that Arjuna had launched, which was blazing through the field and burning the Kuru ranks.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how anger and fixation on killing intensify conflict, while battlefield outcomes depend on skillful counteraction. It implicitly warns that wrath-driven resolve can fuel destructive escalation, even when matched by equal or greater prowess.
Arjuna repeatedly launches powerful astras to kill Karna, but Karna intercepts and cuts them down in mid-air. Then Karna draws his strong, unfailing bow and showers arrows, crushing the blazing weapon that threatened to burn the Kuru forces.