Shloka 26
सर्व दुर्योधनस्यार्थ त्यक्त मे भूरिदक्षिण । मा चैतद् व्याधिमरणं क्षत्रं स्थादिति कौरव
sarva duryodhanasyārtha tyakta me bhūridakṣiṇa | mā caitad vyādhimaraṇaṁ kṣatraṁ sthād iti kaurava ||
Karna dit : «Pour Duryodhana, j’ai renoncé à tout—même aux grandes récompenses et aux gains qui auraient pu être miens. Ô Kaurava, qu’il n’advienne pas que la loi du guerrier (kṣatra-dharma) soit flétrie comme simple “maladie et mort”.»
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Karna frames warrior duty as an ethical vocation grounded in honor and resolve, not as a meaningless descent into suffering and death. He asserts that loyalty and chosen duty must retain dignity, even amid inevitable mortality.
In the midst of the war discourse, Karna speaks to a Kuru prince, declaring that he has sacrificed personal gain for Duryodhana’s cause and urging that the Kṣatriya path should not be reduced to a reputation of mere disease and dying.