Shloka 42

उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय १४० (कृष्णेन कर्णं प्रति पाण्डवबल-वैशिष्ट्यप्रदर्शनम्) / Udyoga Parva, Chapter 140

Krishna’s appraisal of Pandava advantage and war portents

Devanagari script

गाण्डीवधारी अर्जुनके छोड़े हुए तथा द्रोणाचार्य, अश्वत्थामा एवं अन्य महारथियोंके चलाये हुए बाण यज्ञकुण्डके सब ओर बिछाये जानेवाले कुशोंका काम देंगे ।।

Transliteration

gāṇḍīvadhārī arjunake choṛe hue tathā droṇācārya, aśvatthāmā evaṃ anya mahārathiyoṃ ke calāye hue bāṇa yajñakuṇḍ ke sab ora bichāye jāne vāle kuśoṃ kā kāma deṅge || pratiprāsthānikaṃ karma sātyakis tu kariṣyati | dīkṣito dhārtarāṣṭro 'tra patnī cāsya mahācamūḥ |

Translation

Karna declara: «Las flechas soltadas por Arjuna, portador del Gāṇḍīva, y las disparadas por Droṇa, Aśvatthāmā y otros grandes guerreros de carro, harán las veces de la hierba kuśa extendida alrededor del altar del sacrificio. Sātyaki cumplirá la función de pratiprasthātṛ (sacerdote asistente). En este “sacrificio de batalla”, el príncipe dhārtarāṣṭra (Duryodhana) recibirá la consagración como sacrificante, y su vasto ejército ocupará el lugar de la esposa del sacrificante.»

Word by Word

• प्रतिप्रास्थानिकम्: pertaining to the departure/setting forth (preparatory/for the march)
• प्रतिप्रास्थानिकम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रतिप्रास्थानिक
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• कर्म: ritual act; duty; function
• कर्म: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• सात्यकिः: Sātyaki
• सात्यकिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सात्यकि
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• तु: but; indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• करिष्यति: will do; will perform
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ
• Form: Simple Future (Luṭ), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Karna
• Arjuna
• Gāṇḍīva
• Droṇa
• Aśvatthāmā
• Sātyaki
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Duryodhana
• arrows (bāṇāḥ)
• yajñakuṇḍa (sacrificial altar/pit)
• kuśa grass
• mahārathis
• army (camū)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how powerful rhetoric can ritualize and thereby morally sanitize violence: by calling war a ‘sacrifice’, Karna frames killing as sacred duty. The ethical tension lies in this inversion—dharma-language is used to legitimize adharma-like outcomes, urging the listener to examine intention, justice, and consequence rather than mere ceremonial framing.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna is describing the coming battle in the idiom of a Vedic sacrifice. Arrows become the ritual kuśa spread around the altar; Sātyaki is assigned a priestly role; Duryodhana is portrayed as the consecrated sacrificer; and the Kaurava army is cast as the sacrificer’s wife—an elaborate metaphor that presents the battlefield as a yajña.