Shloka 4
Adhyāya 5 (Śānti-parva): Nārada’s account of Karṇa—Jarāsandha encounter and the causal grounds of Karṇa’s fall
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्याभारत शान्तिपर्वके अन्तर्गत राजधर्मानुशासनपर्वमें दुर्योधनके द्वारा स्वयंवरमें रुजकन्याका अपहरण नामक चौथा अध्याय पूरा हुआ,दोनोंके ही बाण क्षीण हो गये, धनुष कट गये और तलवारोंके टुकड़े-टुकड़े हो गये। तब वे दोनों बलशाली वीर पृथ्वीपर खड़े हो भुजाओंद्वारा मल्लयुद्ध करने लगे ।।
bāhukaṇṭakayuddhena tasya karṇo 'tha yudhyataḥ | bibheda sandhiṃ dehasya jarayā śleṣitasya hi ||
Then Karṇa, engaging him in a close-quarters clinch-fight—grappling with the arms and the pressure of the body—began to split open the bodily joint-seams of Jarāsandha, whose frame had been fused together by the rākṣasī Jarā.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the transition from weapon-based warfare to embodied struggle when arms are exhausted, and it points to the idea that extraordinary origins (Jarāsandha being fused by Jarā) can also imply extraordinary vulnerabilities—here, the body’s seams become the decisive point.
After weapons are broken or spent, the fight continues as grappling. Karṇa, in close combat, starts to tear open the bodily joints of Jarāsandha, whose body had been joined together by the rākṣasī Jarā.