Shloka 145
कुन्ती–कर्णसंवादः
Kuntī–Karṇa Dialogue: Loyalty, Fate, and Constrained Assurance
इति श्रीमहाभारते उद्योगपर्वणि भगवद्यानपर्वणि कुन्तीकर्णसमागमे पज्चचत्वारिंशदधिकशततमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate udyogaparvaṇi bhagavadyānaparvaṇi kuntīkarṇasamāgame pañcacatvāriṃśadadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus ends, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Udyoga Parva—specifically in the section concerning the Blessed Lord’s embassy—at the meeting of Kuntī and Karṇa, the one-hundred-and-forty-fifth chapter. This closing colophon frames the episode as a morally charged encounter on the eve of war, where kinship, duty, and the impending catastrophe of fratricidal conflict converge.
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the line does not teach through argument but through framing: it marks the Kuntī–Karṇa encounter as an ethical hinge-point before war, highlighting how dharma is tested when loyalty, birth, gratitude, and public duty collide.
This is the chapter-ending colophon identifying the setting: in Udyoga Parva, within the embassy-related section, the narrative has reached (and here concludes) the episode of Kuntī’s meeting with Karṇa—an attempt to address kinship and avert or reshape the coming conflict.