Shloka 43
कर्णभीमयुद्धम्
Karna–Bhīma Combat Report
विरथं तं समालोक्य व्यायुधं च विशेषत:
virathaṃ taṃ samālokya vyāyudhaṃ ca viśeṣataḥ
Sañjaya said: Seeing him there without a chariot and, in particular, without his weapons, the onlookers grasped the gravity of his plight—how swiftly the fortunes of war can strip a warrior of the means to fight, and how such vulnerability tests both the victor’s restraint and the defeated one’s resolve.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral tension that arises when a warrior is seen chariotless and disarmed: battlefield power is unstable, and dharma is tested most sharply in how one treats an exposed opponent—whether with restraint and honor or with opportunistic violence.
Sañjaya reports an observation on the battlefield: someone is noticed to be without a chariot and notably without weapons. This sets up the next action or reaction—others’ responses to a suddenly vulnerable combatant.