Shloka 26
अध्याय ६० — कर्णस्य पाञ्चाल-सोमक-निग्रहः
Karna’s Suppression of the Panchala–Somaka Forces
तस्य दुःशासनो बाहुं सव्यं विव्याध मारिष । स तेन रुक्मपुड्खेन भल्लेनानतपर्वणा
tasya duḥśāsano bāhuṃ savyaṃ vivyādha māriṣa | sa tena rukmapuṅkhena bhallena ānataparvaṇā ||
हे आर्य, तब दुःशासन ने उसके बाएँ बाहु को बेध दिया; और स्वर्ण-पंखों वाले, किंचित् झुकी गाँठ वाले उस भल्ल-बाण से उसे आघात किया।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war reduces moral life to bodily injury and retaliation: even when framed as kṣatriya conduct, repeated acts of wounding reveal the ethical erosion that accompanies prolonged conflict.
Sañjaya reports a battlefield moment in which Duḥśāsana strikes an opponent’s left arm with a bhalla arrow described as gold-fletched and structurally bent at the joint, highlighting the immediacy and severity of the combat.