Shloka 49
Karna Reproves Shalya; Brahmin Reports on Bāhlīkas; Shalya’s Universalizing Rebuttal (कर्ण–शल्य संवादः)
सपर्वतवनद्वीपा हतवीरा ससागरा | पुत्रपौत्रप्रतिष्ठा ते भविष्यत्यद्य पार्थिव
sa-parvata-vana-dvīpā hatavīrā sa-sāgarā | putra-pautra-pratiṣṭhā te bhaviṣyaty adya pārthiva ||
Dijo Karna: «Oh rey, una vez muerto ese héroe, esta tierra entera—con sus montañas, bosques, islas y mares circundantes—ya privada de sus valientes, quedará hoy firmemente establecida en tu linaje, como herencia perdurable para tus hijos y nietos».
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the harsh moral logic of royal warfare: sovereignty is secured through the removal of rival heroes, and political stability is framed as dynastic continuity—‘establishment’ of the realm in the line of sons and grandsons—raising ethical tension between rightful rule and the human cost of conquest.
Karna addresses a king (the addressee styled ‘pārthiva/bhūpāla’) and declares that with a certain hero now slain, the earth—symbolically described with mountains, forests, islands, and seas—has become ‘hero-less’ and will, from this very day, be securely possessed and continued through that king’s descendants.