Shloka 46

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

Devanagari script

तदर्थे हि मम प्राणा यच्च मे विद्यते वसु । व्यक्त त्वमप्युपहितः पाण्डवै: पापदेशज

Transliteration

tadarthe hi mama prāṇā yac ca me vidyate vasu | vyakta tvam apy upahitaḥ pāṇḍavaiḥ pāpadeśaja ||

Translation

«C’est pour ce dessein même que mes souffles de vie sont engagés, et tout le trésor que je possède aussi. Il est manifeste que toi aussi tu as été placé ici—installé par les Pāṇḍava, ô né en terre de péché.»

Word by Word

तत्that

अर्थेfor the sake/purpose

हिindeed/for

ममof me/my

प्राणाःlife-breaths; lives

यत्whatever/that which

चand

मेof me/to me (my)

विद्यतेexists/is found

वसुwealth/treasure

व्यक्तःmanifest/clearly known

त्वम्you

अपिalso/even

उपहितःbestowed/provided; placed at hand

पाण्डवैःby the Pandavas

पाप-देशजO one born in an evil land/of base origin

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

Pāṇḍavas

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the warrior-ethic of staking one’s very life and wealth for a chosen cause, while also showing how anger and suspicion can turn speech into moral injury through contemptuous labeling and dehumanizing insult.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna, speaking in the midst of the Kurukṣetra conflict, declares total commitment—life and resources—for his objective, and then accuses his interlocutor of being a Pāṇḍava-planted agent, intensifying the confrontation with a cutting insult about the person’s origin.