Shloka 26
कर्णेन सैन्यस्थापनं तथा नानायुद्धसमवायः
Karna Reforms the Host and Multiple Duels Converge
राजयाजकयाज्यानां मद्रकाणां च यन्मलम् | तद् भवेद् वै तव मल यद्यस्मान्न विमुड्चसि
rājayājakayājyānāṁ madrakāṇāṁ ca yan malam | tad bhaved vai tava mala yadyasmān na vimuñcasi ||
राजयाजकों और जिनके लिये वे यज्ञ करते हैं, तथा मद्रदेशवासियों का जो मल कहा गया है, वही तुम्हें लगे—यदि तुम मुझे इस सरोवर से न छोड़ोगे।
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how ethical conduct (dharma) is tested under pressure: instead of appealing through compassion or righteousness, Karna uses a threat framed in ritual-social impurity. It warns that desperation can distort speech into coercion, and that invoking purity/impurity as a weapon reflects moral strain in wartime.
Karna, hindered in a lake/pond (as indicated by the contextual gloss), addresses another party and demands to be freed. To force compliance, he pronounces an imprecation: if he is not released, the ‘mala’ (defilement) associated with certain ritual agents and the Madra people should fall upon the hearer.