Shloka 58
स चित्रवर्मेषुवरो विदार्य प्राणान्निरस्यन्निव साधुमुक्त: । कर्णस्य पीत्वा रुधिरं विवेश वसुन्धरां शोणितदिग्धवाज:
sa citravarmeṣuvaro vidārya prāṇānnirasyann iva sādhumuktaḥ | karṇasya pītvā rudhiraṃ viveśa vasundharāṃ śoṇitadigdhavājaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: That superb arrow, well released, tore through Karṇa’s variegated armour as though wrenching out his very life. Having drunk his blood, it then sank into the earth—its wings smeared and heavy with gore.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the stark ethic of the battlefield: skill and valour operate within an inexorable economy of death. Even a mighty warrior’s splendour (armour, fame) cannot ultimately shield him from mortality; war consumes pride and life alike, reminding the listener of impermanence and the severe cost of adharma-driven conflict.
Sañjaya describes a powerful arrow (nārāca) striking Karṇa: it rips through his ornate armour as if tearing out his life, drinks his blood, and then disappears into the earth, its feathers smeared with gore—an image of a perfectly loosed missile completing its lethal course.