Shloka 14
Karṇa’s advance against the Pāṇḍava host; Arjuna’s clash with the Saṃśaptakas (कर्णस्य पाण्डवसेनाप्रवेशः—अर्जुनस्य संशप्तकसंप्रहारः)
समागतानि चैतानि यो हन्याद् भगवंस्तदा । एकेषुणा देववर: स नो मृत्युर्भविष्यति
samāgatāni caitāni yo hanyād bhagavaṁs tadā | ekeṣuṇā devavaraḥ sa no mṛtyur bhaviṣyati, nibodha manasā cātra na te kāryā vicāraṇā ||
Duryodhana berkata: “Wahai Yang Mulia, ketika ketiga kota itu bertemu menjadi satu, siapa pun yang pada saat itu mampu memusnahkannya dengan satu anak panah—dialah yang terbaik di antara para dewa, dan dialah penyebab kematian kami. Pahamilah ini dengan batin yang teguh; jangan biarkan keraguan atau pikiran lain menyelinap.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even seemingly invincible protections based on conditions and clever safeguards remain vulnerable to a higher power and to the ripening of fate; clinging to certainty and forbidding reflection (“no deliberation”) can signal pride and moral blindness in counsel.
Duryodhana cites a well-known mythic condition: when the three strongholds unite, only a supreme divine archer who can destroy them with a single arrow will be their death. He urges his listener to accept this point firmly and not to doubt it, using the exemplum to frame the present war’s stakes and inevitabilities.