Shloka 13
संरब्ध: शरधाराभि: सुदीप्तं कर्णपावकम् । अर्जुनोदीरितो मेघ: शमयिष्यति संयुगे,“उस आगको युद्धमें अर्जुन नामक महामेघ ही बुझा सकेगा। श्रीकृष्णरूपी वायुका सहारा पाकर ही वह मेघ उठेगा। दिव्यास्त्रोंका प्रकाश ही उसमें बिजलीकी चमक होगी। रथके श्वेत घोड़े ही उसके निकट उड़नेवाली बकपंक्तियोंकी भाँति सुशोभित होंगे। गाण्डीव धनुष ही इन्द्रधनुषके समान दुःसह दृश्य उपस्थित करनेवाला होगा। वह क्रोधमें भरकर बाणरूपी जलकी धारासे कर्णरूपी प्रज्वलित अग्निको निश्चय ही शान्त कर देगा। शत्रुओंकी राजधानीपर विजय पानेवाला अर्जुन साक्षात् इन्द्रसे सारे दिव्यास्त्र प्राप्त करेगा
saṃrabdhaḥ śaradhārābhiḥ sudīptaṃ karṇapāvakam | arjunodīrito meghaḥ śamayiṣyati saṃyuge ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “That blazing fire—Karna, fiercely kindled and fed by torrents of arrows—will be quenched in battle by the cloud that is Arjuna, once he is stirred to rise. In the coming combat, Arjuna’s downpour of shafts will surely subdue Karna’s conflagration.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames martial power within a moral-poetic vision: unchecked fury and destructive force (Karna as fire intensified by arrow-showers) must be met by a counter-force that restores balance (Arjuna as a rain-cloud that cools and quenches). It highlights the epic’s ethic that even in war, power is evaluated through restraint, rightful opposition, and the restoration of order.
Vaiśaṃpāyana uses a vivid metaphor to foreshadow a future confrontation: Karna is imagined as a blazing fire in battle, while Arjuna is envisioned as the cloud that will rise and extinguish that fire with a downpour of arrows. The line anticipates Arjuna’s decisive capacity to overcome Karna in the great war.