Shloka 58

Devanagari script

जहि कर्ण महेष्वासं निशीथे मायया रणे । पार्था द्रोणं वधिष्यन्ति धृष्टद्युम्नपुरोगमा:,तुम आधी रातके समय अपनी मायाद्वारा रणभूमिमें महाधनुर्धर कर्णको मार डालो और धृष्टद्युम्न आदि पाण्डव-सैनिक द्रोणाचार्यका वध करेंगे

Transliteration

jahi karṇa maheṣvāsaṃ niśīthe māyayā raṇe | pārthā droṇaṃ vadhiṣyanti dhṛṣṭadyumnapurogamāḥ ||

Translation

Vāyu said: “Slay Karṇa, that great archer, on the battlefield at midnight by means of your stratagem. Then the sons of Pṛthā, led by Dhṛṣṭadyumna, will bring about the death of Droṇa.” The utterance frames a grim wartime calculus: victory is forecast through night-attack and deception, revealing how, in the pressure of total war, even renowned heroes become targets of planned, ethically fraught tactics.

Word by Word

जहिkill (you kill!)

कर्णO Karna

महेष्वासम्the great archer

निशीथेat midnight

माययाby (your) illusion

रणेin battle

पार्थाःthe sons of Pritha (Pandavas)

द्रोणम्Drona

वधिष्यन्तिwill kill

धृष्टद्युम्नपुरोगमाःhaving Dhrishtadyumna in front / led by Dhrishtadyumna

Speaker

श्रीवायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vāyu (Vāyudeva)

Karna

Pāṇḍavas (Pārthas)

Droṇa (Droṇācārya)

Dhṛṣṭadyumna

battlefield (raṇa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the moral tension of warfare: strategic necessity (night attack and deception) is presented as a means to decisive outcomes, suggesting how dharma becomes contested and compromised under extreme conflict.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu addresses a listener (implied commander/agent) with a directive and prediction: Karṇa is to be killed at midnight through a stratagem, and thereafter the Pāṇḍavas, led by Dhṛṣṭadyumna, will kill Droṇa.