Shloka 26
सर्व दुर्योधनस्यार्थ त्यक्त मे भूरिदक्षिण । मा चैतद् व्याधिमरणं क्षत्रं स्थादिति कौरव
sarva duryodhanasyārtha tyakta me bhūridakṣiṇa | mā caitad vyādhimaraṇaṁ kṣatraṁ sthād iti kaurava ||
Karna dijo: «Por Duryodhana he renunciado a todo—hasta a las grandes recompensas y ganancias que podrían haber sido mías. Oh Kaurava, que no suceda que el deber del guerrero (kṣatra-dharma) llegue a ser tachado como mera “enfermedad y muerte”.»
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Karna frames warrior duty as an ethical vocation grounded in honor and resolve, not as a meaningless descent into suffering and death. He asserts that loyalty and chosen duty must retain dignity, even amid inevitable mortality.
In the midst of the war discourse, Karna speaks to a Kuru prince, declaring that he has sacrificed personal gain for Duryodhana’s cause and urging that the Kṣatriya path should not be reduced to a reputation of mere disease and dying.