Shloka 24

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

Devanagari script

मद्रदेशका अधम मनुष्य सदा मित्रद्रोही होता है। जो हमलोगोंसे अकारण द्वेष करता है, वह मद्रदेशका ही अधम मनुष्य है। क्षुद्रतापूर्ण वचन बोलनेवाले मद्रदेशके निवासीमें किसीके प्रति सौहार्दकी भावना नहीं होती ।। दुरात्मा मद्रको नित्यं नित्यमानृतिको$नूजु: । यावदन्त्यं हि दौरात्म्यं मद्रकेष्विति नः श्रुतम्‌,मद्रनिवासी मनुष्य सदा ही दुरात्मा, सर्वदा झूठ बोलनेवाला और सदा ही कुटिल होता है। हमने सुन रखा है कि मद्रनिवासियोंमें मरते दमतक दुष्टता बनी रहती है

Transliteration

dūrātmā madrako nityaṃ nityam ānṛtiko'nṛjuḥ | yāvad-antyaṃ hi daurātmyaṃ madrakeṣv iti naḥ śrutam ||

Translation

Karna dit : « L’homme de Madra est toujours mauvais — toujours trompeur, toujours menteur, jamais droit. Nous avons entendu dire que, chez les Madras, cette dépravation demeure jusqu’au terme ultime (jusqu’à la mort même). »

Word by Word

{'dūrātmā''evil-minded, wicked in disposition', 'madrakaḥ / madrako': 'a man of Madra

a Madran', 'nityam''always, constantly', 'ānṛtikaḥ': 'one who speaks untruth

liar', 'anṛjuḥ''not straight

crooked, deceitful', 'yāvat-antyam''up to the end

until death', 'daurātmyaṃ''wickedness, depravity', 'madrakeṣu': 'among the Madras (people of Madra)', 'iti': 'thus (quotative marker)', 'naḥ': 'by us

for us', 'śrutam''heard

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

Madra (Madradeśa / Madraka people)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how harsh, generalized condemnation and accusations of habitual lying function as moral censure in wartime rhetoric; it implicitly raises an ethical issue about right speech (truthfulness and fairness) versus slander and prejudice.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karna Parva, Karna is speaking in a heated context and denounces the people of Madra as inherently deceitful and wicked, presenting this as something he has ‘heard’ as a common report, thereby intensifying hostility through disparagement.