Shloka 26
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
धर्मार्थकामं संयुक्त त्रिवेणुं दारु बन्धुरम् । ओषधीर्वीरुधश्चैव घण्टा: पुष्पफलोपगा:
dharmārthakāmaṃ saṃyuktaṃ triveṇuṃ dāru-bandhuram | oṣadhīr vīrudhaś caiva ghaṇṭāḥ puṣpaphalopagāḥ |
Duryodhana dijo: “Uniendo dharma, artha y kāma en una sola tríada—como un trenzado triple atado a un armazón de madera—formé el asiento del carro. Y con hierbas medicinales y enredaderas, cargadas de flores y frutos, hice ornamentos como campanas.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a crafted image to suggest that human aims—dharma (moral order), artha (power/prosperity), and kāma (desire)—can be ‘woven together’ into a single structure. In the Mahābhārata’s ethical horizon, this raises a tension: when such aims are blended without dharma governing the others, splendour and ingenuity may still serve a flawed purpose.
Duryodhana describes an act of symbolic construction and ornamentation connected with a chariot: he imagines the triad of dharma-artha-kāma as a threefold braid forming the seat, and he fashions bell-like decorations from flowering, fruit-bearing herbs and vines—projecting royal magnificence and deliberate design amid the war setting.