Shloka 5
कर्णपर्व — चतुर्दशोऽध्यायः
Arjuna’s Suppression of the Saṃśaptakas; Kṛṣṇa’s Strategic Admonition; Battlefield Inventory
शरै: शरांस्ततो द्रौणि: संवार्य युधि पाण्डवम् । ललाटे< भ्याहनद् राजन् नाराचेन स्मयन्निव
śaraiḥ śarāṁs tato drauṇiḥ saṁvārya yudhi pāṇḍavam | lalāṭe 'bhyāhanad rājan nārācena smayann iva ||
संजय बोले—राजन्! तब द्रौणि ने युद्ध में बाणों से बाणों का प्रतिकार करते हुए पाण्डव पर प्रहार किया और मानो उपहासपूर्वक मुस्कराता हुआ, नाराच बाण से उसके ललाट पर आघात कर दिया।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how skill in battle can be accompanied by arrogance and derision; it implicitly warns that martial excellence (kṣatriya prowess) is ethically incomplete when colored by pride and cruelty.
Aśvatthāman (Drauṇi) counters the Pāṇḍava’s arrows in the fight and then lands a direct hit on his forehead with a nārāca arrow, described as if he were smiling—suggesting confident, even mocking dominance in that moment.