Shloka 36

अध्याय ९ — कर्णस्य प्रहारः, योधयुग्मनियोजनम्, शैनेय-कैकेययोर्युद्धविन्यासः

Devanagari script

कच्चिन्नैक: परित्यक्त: पाण्डवैर्निहतो रणे । उक्त त्वया पुरा तात यथा वीरो निपातित:,तात! कहीं ऐसा तो नहीं हुआ कि कर्णको अकेला छोड़ दिया गया हो और समस्त पाण्डवोंने मिलकर उसे मार डाला हो; क्योंकि तुम पहले बता चुके हो कि वीर कर्ण मारा गया

Transliteration

kaccin naikaḥ parityaktaḥ pāṇḍavair nihato raṇe | uktaṃ tvayā purā tāta yathā vīro nipātitaḥ ||

Translation

વૈશંપાયન બોલ્યા—તાત! એવું તો નથી ને કે કર્ણને એકલો છોડી દેવામાં આવ્યો અને પાંડવોએ મળીને યુદ્ધમાં તેને મારી નાખ્યો? કારણ કે તું પહેલાં જ કહેલું કે એ વીર પતિત થયો.

Word by Word

कच्चित्whether (indeed)?

नnot

एकःalone, single

परित्यक्तःabandoned, left behind

पाण्डवैःby the Pandavas

निहतःslain, killed

रणेin battle

उक्तम्said, spoken

त्वयाby you

पुराformerly, earlier

तातdear father / dear one (address)

यथाas, in the manner that

वीरःthe hero, brave man

निपातितःmade to fall, felled, slain

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Pāṇḍavas

Karṇa

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 frames Karṇa’s fall as an ethical question about battlefield dharma: whether a lone warrior was abandoned and then killed by many together. It highlights the epic’s concern with fairness, support, and the moral scrutiny of victory in war.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, continuing the narration, raises an anxious query about the circumstances of Karṇa’s death—asking if Karṇa was left alone and then slain by the Pāṇḍavas collectively—because the listener has already been told that the hero Karṇa was brought down.