Shloka 16
अध्याय ९ — कर्णस्य प्रहारः, योधयुग्मनियोजनम्, शैनेय-कैकेययोर्युद्धविन्यासः
पर्वतस्येव शिखरं वज़्पाताद विदारितम् | जैसे वज़्के आघातसे विदीर्ण किया हुआ पर्वतशिखर धराशायी हो जाता है, उसी प्रकार बाणोंसे पीड़ित हुआ अधिरथपुत्र कर्ण निश्चय ही रथसे नीचे गिर पड़ा होगा ।। स शेते पृथिवीं नूनं शोभयन् रुधिरोक्षित:
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | parvatasyeva śikharaṃ vajrapātād vidāritam | śete pṛthivīṃ nūnaṃ śobhayan rudhirokṣitaḥ ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra dijo: «Como la cumbre de una montaña, hendida por el rayo y precipitada al suelo, así, sin duda, Karṇa, hijo de Adhiratha, atormentado por las flechas, ha caído de su carro. Ahora debe yacer sobre la tierra, dándole un resplandor sombrío, empapado en sangre.»
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark cost of war: even the mightiest warrior can be brought down suddenly, like a peak shattered by a thunderbolt. It evokes the fragility of human power and the inevitability of suffering when dharma is pursued through destructive conflict.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing or imagining the battlefield outcome, envisions Karṇa—identified pointedly as Adhiratha’s son—pierced by arrows and fallen from his chariot, lying on the ground drenched in blood.