Shloka 63
भीमसेनस्टत्रिभिश्वैव पुनः पार्थश्च॒ सप्तभि: । माननीय नरेश! तदनन्तर सात्यकिने तीन बाणोंसे कर्णको वेध दिया, फिर भीमसेनने भी उसे तीन बाण मारे और अर्जुनने पुनः सात बाणोंसे कर्णको घायल कर दिया ।। तान् कर्ण: प्रतिविव्याध षष्ट्या षष्ट्या महारथ:
bhīmasenas tatra tribhir eva punaḥ pārthaś ca saptabhiḥ | mānanīya nareśa! tad-anantaraṃ sātyakine trīn bāṇaiḥ karṇako vedhaṃ dadau, punaḥ bhīmasenas tam api tribhir bāṇaiḥ ajighāṃsat, arjunas tu punaḥ saptabhir bāṇaiḥ karṇaṃ vyathayām āsa || tān karṇaḥ prativivyādha ṣaṣṭyā ṣaṣṭyā mahārathaḥ ||
Sanjaya said: “O revered king, then Satyaki pierced Karna with three arrows; Bhimasena too struck him with three; and Arjuna again wounded Karna with seven. But Karna—the great chariot-warrior—counter-pierced those assailants with sixty arrows each.” The verse highlights the relentless reciprocity of battlefield violence: prowess answers prowess, and injury is met with measured retaliation, intensifying the moral weight of war even as each fighter acts according to his chosen allegiance and duty.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of war: once violence is chosen as the means, it tends to escalate through reciprocal retaliation. Even when warriors act within kshatriya-duty and loyalty, each exchange deepens the chain of consequences, reminding the listener that prowess does not erase the moral cost of conflict.
Satyaki, Bhima, and Arjuna successively strike Karna with 3, 3, and 7 arrows. Karna then responds as a mahāratha by counter-striking them—sixty arrows to each—demonstrating his formidable skill and the intensifying duel within the larger battle.