Shloka 5
भीष्मस्य दुर्योधनं प्रति कुलहितोपदेशः | Bhīṣma’s Counsel to Duryodhana on Dynastic Welfare
अकरोन्मयि यत् पापं भवती सुमहात्ययम् | अपाकीर्णोउस्मि यन्मातस्तद् यश: कीर्तिनाशनम्
akaromayi yat pāpaṃ bhavatī sumahātyayam | apākīrṇo’smi yan mātas tad yaśaḥ kīrtināśanam ||
Karna said: “The wrong you committed against me—an act of grave transgression—has brought me intense suffering. Mother, because you cast me away into the waters, I have lived as one cast out; and that has become for me a destroyer of honor and renown.”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical weight of parental actions and secrecy: abandoning a child can inflict lifelong harm not only materially but also in social honor and self-identity, shaping one’s dharma-conflicts and sense of worth.
In Udyoga Parva, during the pre-war negotiations, Karna speaks to his mother (Kunti, implied) about the grievous wrong done to him at birth—being cast into the waters—which led to his life as an outcast and damaged his honor and reputation.