Shloka 5
ततो विमर्द: सुमहान् बभूव तत्रार्जुनस्याधिरथेश्व॒ राजन । अन्योन्यमासादयतो: पृषत्कै- विंषाणघातैद्विपयोरिवोग्रै:
tato vimardaḥ sumahān babhūva tatrārjunasya adhiratheśva rājan | anyonyam āsādayatoḥ pṛṣatkaiḥ viṃśāṇaghātair dvipayor ivograiḥ ||
Sanjaya said: Then, O King, a very great clash arose there between Arjuna and the charioteer’s son (Karna). As two mighty elephants strike one another with fierce thrusts of their tusks, so did those two assail each other with arrows, each meeting the other head-on in relentless combat.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the intensity and inevitability of kṣatriya combat when two foremost warriors meet: neither yields, and the encounter becomes a direct test of prowess and resolve. Ethically, it reflects the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between personal rivalry and the larger, duty-bound momentum of war.
Sañjaya describes Arjuna and Karna closing upon each other and exchanging volleys of arrows. Their mutual assault is compared to two powerful elephants goring each other with tusks, emphasizing a brutal, evenly matched clash.