Shloka 9
कर्णेन सैन्यस्थापनं तथा नानायुद्धसमवायः
Karna Reforms the Host and Multiple Duels Converge
एतन्मया श्रुतं तत्र धर्मसंकरकारकम् । कृत्स्नामटित्वा पृथिवीं वाहीकेषु विपर्यय:
etanmayā śrutaṃ tatra dharmasaṅkarakārakam | kṛtsnām aṭitvā pṛthivīṃ vāhīkeṣu viparyayaḥ ||
वहाँ मैंने यह सुना—जो धर्म में संकर और विकार उत्पन्न करनेवाला है। समस्त पृथ्वी में घूमकर मैंने देखा कि केवल वाहीकों में आचार का उलटा ही उलटा चलन है।
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that when dharma is inverted—when right and wrong are confused—social and ethical order becomes corrupted (dharma-saṅkara). It frames moral discernment as essential, especially amid conflict and public life.
Karna, speaking in the Karṇa Parva, introduces a report he claims to have heard and presents it as evidence of dharma’s confusion. He says he has traveled widely and singles out the Vāhīkas as exemplifying a reversal of proper norms, using this as a rhetorical point in his speech.