Shloka 316
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 58 — Arjuna’s Arrow-Storm and Relief of Bhīmasena
येनैव ते पितुर्दत्तं यतमानस्य संयुगे । अश्वत्थामाके ऐसा कहनेपर प्रतापी धृष्टद्युम्नने उससे इस प्रकार उत्तर दिया--“अरे! तेरी इस बातका जवाब तुझे मेरी वही तलवार देगी
yenaiva te pitur dattaṃ yatamānasya saṃyuge |
Dijo Sañjaya: «Con esa misma (arma) con la que tu padre fue abatido mientras se esforzaba por la victoria en la batalla…». Al decir Aśvatthāmā tales palabras, el poderoso Dhṛṣṭadyumna respondió así: «¡Eh! La respuesta a eso te la dará mi misma espada, la que en el campo de guerra se la dio a tu padre cuando luchaba por vencer».
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the grim moral logic of wartime retaliation: personal enmity and the code of the warrior (kṣatriya-dharma) can harden into a cycle where ‘answer’ is given not by reasoning but by the same violence previously inflicted.
In the Karṇa Parva battle narrative, Aśvatthāmā speaks, and Dhṛṣṭadyumna responds fiercely, declaring that the very sword/means by which Droṇa (Aśvatthāmā’s father) was brought down in battle will be his reply—escalating the confrontation through a direct threat grounded in past killing.