Shloka 38
कर्णेन सैन्यस्थापनं तथा नानायुद्धसमवायः
Karna Reforms the Host and Multiple Duels Converge
सीधो: पान॑ गुरुतल्पावमर्दों भ्रूणहत्या परवित्तापहार: | येषां धर्मस्तान् प्रति नास्त्यधर्म आरडट्टजान् पञ्चनदान् धिगस्तु
sīdhoḥ pānaṁ gurutalpāvamardo bhrūṇahatyā paravittāpahāraḥ | yeṣāṁ dharmas tān prati nāsty adharma ārāḍṭṭajān pañcanadān dhig astu ||
कर्ण ने कहा—मदिरापान, गुरु-शय्या का अपमान, भ्रूणहत्या और परधन-अपहरण—जिनका ‘धर्म’ ही ऐसे कर्म हैं, उनके प्रति विरोध में अधर्म का प्रश्न ही नहीं। धिक्कार है उन आरट्ट-जात पंचनद-देशियों पर।
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses moral indictment to argue that opposing people characterized by grave transgressions is not ‘adharma’; it frames warfare as ethically justified when directed against those portrayed as fundamentally unrighteous.
In the Karna Parva battle context, Karna delivers a harsh denunciation of the opposing side (or a targeted group), listing notorious sins and concluding with a curse-like ‘shame’ directed at the Pañcanada people, as part of his rhetorical justification and provocation.