Shloka 27

Devanagari script

त्वदीयै: पुरुषव्यात्र योधमुख्यैर्महात्मभि: । शरजालसहसांशु: शरदीव दिवाकर:,पुरुषसिंह! तुम्हारे महामनस्वी श्रेष्ठ योद्धा दोपहरके तपते हुए सूर्यकी भाँति कर्णकी ओर देख भी नहीं सकते। जैसे शरद्‌-ऋतुके निर्मल आकाशमें सूर्य अपनी सहस्रों किरणें बिखेरता है, उसी प्रकार कर्ण युद्धमें अपने बाणोंका जाल-सा बिछा देता है

Transliteration

tvadīyaiḥ puruṣavyāghra yodhamukhyair mahātmabhiḥ | śarajālasahasrāṃśuḥ śaradīva divākaraḥ ||

Translation

Vāyu said: “O tiger among men, your foremost warriors—great-souled as they are—cannot even fix their gaze upon Karṇa. Like the sun in the clear autumn sky scattering its thousand rays, so does Karṇa in battle spread out a net-like shower of arrows.”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'tvadīyaiḥ', 'definition': 'by/with your (belonging to you)'}, {'term': 'puruṣavyāghra', 'definition': 'tiger among men

• a heroic epithet'}, {'term': 'yodhamukhya', 'definition': 'chief/foremost warrior'}, {'term': 'mahātman', 'definition': 'great-souled, noble-minded'}, {'term': 'śarajāla', 'definition': 'a net/web of arrows'}, {'term': 'sahasrāṃśu', 'definition': 'thousand-rayed (epithet of the sun)'}, {'term': 'śarad', 'definition': 'autumn season

• symbol of clarity'}, {'term': 'divākara', 'definition': 'sun

Speaker

श्रीवायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• Karṇa
• the sun (Divākara / Sahasrāṃśu)
• arrows (śara)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how extraordinary prowess can create moral and psychological pressure in war: even noble warriors may falter before overwhelming skill. It also uses the autumn-sun image to suggest clarity and irresistible force—power that compels others to acknowledge reality rather than pride.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva addresses a heroic listener (implied by the epithet ‘puruṣavyāghra’) and describes Karṇa’s dominance on the battlefield: Karṇa releases such a dense, radiant barrage of arrows that the opposing champions cannot even look toward him, likened to the sun spreading its rays in the clear autumn sky.