Shloka 42

Devanagari script

गाण्डीवधारी अर्जुनके छोड़े हुए तथा द्रोणाचार्य, अश्वत्थामा एवं अन्य महारथियोंके चलाये हुए बाण यज्ञकुण्डके सब ओर बिछाये जानेवाले कुशोंका काम देंगे ।। प्रतिप्रास्थानिकं कर्म सात्यकिस्तु करिष्यति । दीक्षितों धार्तराष्ट्रोडत्र पत्नी चास्य महाचमू:,सात्यकि प्रतिस्थाता (अध्वर्युके दूसरे सहयोगी)-का कार्य करेंगे। धृतराष्ट्रपुत्र दुर्योधन इस रणयज्ञकी दीक्षा लेगा और उसकी विशाल सेना ही यजमानपत्नीका काम करेगी

Transliteration

gāṇḍīvadhārī arjunake choṛe hue tathā droṇācārya, aśvatthāmā evaṃ anya mahārathiyoṃ ke calāye hue bāṇa yajñakuṇḍ ke sab ora bichāye jāne vāle kuśoṃ kā kāma deṅge || pratiprāsthānikaṃ karma sātyakis tu kariṣyati | dīkṣito dhārtarāṣṭro 'tra patnī cāsya mahācamūḥ |

Translation

Karna menyatakan: “Anak panah yang dilepaskan Arjuna pemegang Gāṇḍīva, dan yang ditembakkan Droṇa, Aśvatthāmā, serta para mahāratha lainnya, akan menjadi seperti rumput kuśa yang ditebarkan mengelilingi vedi pada yajña ini. Sātyaki akan menjalankan tugas pratiprasthātṛ, pendeta pembantu. Dalam ‘kurban-perang’ ini, putra Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Duryodhana, akan menjadi yajamāna yang menerima dīkṣā, dan bala tentaranya yang besar akan menggantikan kedudukan istri yajamāna.”

Word by Word

• प्रतिप्रास्थानिकम्: pertaining to the departure/setting forth (preparatory/for the march)
• प्रतिप्रास्थानिकम्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: प्रतिप्रास्थानिक
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• कर्म: ritual act; duty; function
• कर्म: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• सात्यकिः: Sātyaki
• सात्यकिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: सात्यकि
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• तु: but; indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तु

• करिष्यति: will do; will perform
• Type: Verb
• Root: कृ
• Form: Simple Future (Luṭ), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Karna
• Arjuna
• Gāṇḍīva
• Droṇa
• Aśvatthāmā
• Sātyaki
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Duryodhana
• arrows (bāṇāḥ)
• yajñakuṇḍa (sacrificial altar/pit)
• kuśa grass
• mahārathis
• army (camū)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how powerful rhetoric can ritualize and thereby morally sanitize violence: by calling war a ‘sacrifice’, Karna frames killing as sacred duty. The ethical tension lies in this inversion—dharma-language is used to legitimize adharma-like outcomes, urging the listener to examine intention, justice, and consequence rather than mere ceremonial framing.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna is describing the coming battle in the idiom of a Vedic sacrifice. Arrows become the ritual kuśa spread around the altar; Sātyaki is assigned a priestly role; Duryodhana is portrayed as the consecrated sacrificer; and the Kaurava army is cast as the sacrificer’s wife—an elaborate metaphor that presents the battlefield as a yajña.