Shloka 7

Aśvatthāman’s Arrow-Screen and the Confrontation with Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रौणि–युधिष्ठिर-संग्रामः)

Devanagari script

शेते चन्दनचूर्णेशु पूजितो बहुला: समा: । आहेयो विषवानुग्रो नराश्वद्धिपसंघहा,यह सर्पमय भयानक विषैला बाण बहुत वर्षोतक चन्दनके चूर्णमें रखकर पूजित होता आया है, जो मनुष्यों, हाथियों और घोड़ोंके समुदायका संहार करनेवाला है

Transliteration

śete candanacūrṇeṣu pūjito bahulāḥ samāḥ | āheyo viṣavān ugro narāśvadvipasaṅghahā ||

Translation

Dijo Karna: «Durante muchos años ha yacido en polvo de sándalo, honrada y guardada como objeto de veneración; y, sin embargo, es un arma feroz, portadora de veneno, terrible, capaz de aniquilar multitudes de hombres, caballos y elefantes».

Word by Word

शेतेlies, rests

चन्दनचूर्णेषुin sandalwood-powders

पूजितःhonored, worshipped

बहुलाःmany

समाःyears

आहेयःto be cast/placed (as a missile); fit to be hurled

विषवान्poisonous

उग्रःfierce, terrible

नराश्वद्विपसंघहाdestroyer (lit. smiter) of masses of men, horses, and elephants

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

sandalwood powder (candana-cūrṇa)

venomous weapon/missile (āheya)

men (nara)

horses (aśva)

elephants (dvipā)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights that outward honor or ritual preservation does not change the inherent nature of a thing: a weapon remains a weapon. In the ethical landscape of the Mahabharata’s war, it points to the tension between reverence, tradition, and the stark reality of violence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna is describing a fearsome, poison-bearing missile/weapon that has been kept for many years in sandalwood powder and treated with reverence, yet is capable of annihilating large forces of men, horses, and elephants—emphasizing its dreadful power in the ongoing war context.