Shloka 26
कर्णार्जुनसमागमः — The Karṇa–Arjuna Confrontation
Cosmic Spectatorship and Vows
विगाह्[ तां पाण्डवबाणवदवृुष्टिं शरै: परं नाम ततः प्रकाश्य । शतेन कृष्णं सहसाभ्यविद्ध्यत् त्रिभि: शतैरजुन क्षुद्रकाणाम्
vigāhya tāṃ pāṇḍava-bāṇa-vadavṛṣṭiṃ śaraiḥ paraṃ nāma tataḥ prakāśya | śatena kṛṣṇaṃ sahasābhyavidhyat tribhiḥ śatair arjunaṃ kṣudrakāṇām ||
Sañjaya dit : S’enfonçant dans cette tempête de flèches décochées par les Pāṇḍava, il proclama alors son nom suprême et, dans une attaque soudaine, frappa Kṛṣṇa de cent traits et Arjuna de trois cents flèches menues et perçantes.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the kṣatriya ideal of fearlessly entering danger and asserting one’s martial identity, while also reminding the reader that even valorous skill unfolds within a larger moral tragedy where dharma is contested and suffering is amplified by pride and rivalry.
In Sañjaya’s report from the battlefield, a warrior charges into the Pāṇḍavas’ dense arrow-barrage, proclaims his famed name/epithet as a battle-cry, and rapidly wounds Kṛṣṇa with a hundred arrows and Arjuna with three hundred smaller shafts.