Mahabharata 11.21.8 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 8
अध्याय २१ — गान्धार्या वैकर्तनदर्शनम्
Gāndhārī’s Viewing of Vaikartana/Karṇa
अनाधुृष्य: परैर्युद्धे शत्रुभिर्मघवानिव । युगान्ताग्निरिवार्चिष्मान् हिमवानिव निश्चल:ः
anādṛṣyaḥ parair yuddhe śatrubhir maghavān iva | yugāntāgnir ivārciṣmān himavān iva niścalaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : Au combat, nul ne pouvait l’entamer, tel Maghavān (Indra) face à ses ennemis ; il flamboyait comme le feu de la fin des âges et demeurait immobile comme Himavān (l’Himalaya). Tel était le héros Karṇa—devenu refuge pour Duryodhana, fils de Dhṛtarāṣṭra—et le voici maintenant gisant, tué, sur la terre, comme un arbre brisé par la tempête. Le passage souligne le renversement tragique de la guerre : même le plus puissant des protecteurs, ferme et rayonnant, est abattu, ne laissant que deuil, examen du dharma et l’impermanence du pouvoir terrestre.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the impermanence of strength and status: even one who seems invincible and steadfast can fall. Ethically, it intensifies the Strī-parvan mood of lamentation and reflection—war consumes protectors and protected alike, forcing survivors to confront the moral cost of ambition and enmity.
Vaiśampāyana describes Karṇa’s former battlefield might through grand similes (Indra-like, end-of-age fire, Himalaya-like) and then states the reversal: Karṇa, who served as Duryodhana’s chief refuge and support, has been slain and lies fallen like a storm-toppled tree.
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