Shloka 233
Chapter 136: Pandava Counter-Encirclement and the Vāyavya-Astra Disruption
दीर्घमुष्णं श्वसन् वीरो न किंचित् प्रत्यपद्यत । दुर्मुखका मर्मस्थान विदीर्ण हो गया था। वह खूनसे लथपथ हो पृथ्वीपर पड़ा था। उसे उस दशामें देखकर कर्णके नेत्रोंमें आँसू भर आया। वह दो घड़ीतक विपक्षीका सामना न कर सका। जब उसके प्राणपखेरू उड़ गये, तब कर्ण उस शवकी परिक्रमा करके आगे बढ़ा। वह वीर गरम-गरम लंबी साँस खींचता हुआ किसी कर्तव्यका निश्चय न कर सका
sañjaya uvāca | dīrgham uṣṇaṁ śvasan vīro na kiñcit pratyapadyata |
Sañjaya said: The hero, drawing long, hot breaths, could not arrive at any clear resolve or course of action. In the moral shock of the moment—seeing the fallen warrior’s vital spot torn open and his body drenched in blood—he stood inwardly shaken, unable for a time to face the opposing side; only after the life had fully departed did he circle the corpse in a gesture of grim respect and move on.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even in war, the epic acknowledges moments when human feeling interrupts martial certainty: grief, shock, and respect for the fallen can momentarily suspend action. The verse highlights the tension between kṣatriya-duty (pressing forward) and the ethical-emotional reality of witnessing death.
Sañjaya describes a warrior (contextually Karṇa in the surrounding prose) breathing hard and hot, unable to decide what to do for a time after seeing a mortally wounded/fallen fighter. After the person dies, he circumambulates the body as a sign of respect and then proceeds onward in the battle.