Shloka 76
तन्मे दहति गात्राणि सखे सत्येन ते शपे | यत् तत्रापि च दुष्टात्मा कर्णोअ्भ्यद्रुह्मत प्रभो
tan me dahati gātrāṇi sakhe satyena te śape | yat tatrāpi ca duṣṭātmā karṇo 'bhyadruhyata prabho ||
Sañjaya berkata: “Sahabatku, pemandangan itu membakar sekujur tubuhku. Demi kebenaran aku bersumpah—wahai tuanku—bahkan dalam perbuatan itu pun, pengkhianatan Karṇa yang berhati busuklah yang bekerja.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames moral judgment within war: even amid battlefield necessity, deliberate treachery (droha) is condemned. Sañjaya invokes satya (truth) as the highest witness, emphasizing that ethical accountability persists even in violent conflict.
Sañjaya, reporting to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, recalls a painful event and says it still burns him. He swears by truth that Karṇa’s hostile, treacherous intent was operative in that deed—linking Karṇa to the wrongdoing surrounding the killing of Abhimanyu.