Shloka 37

कर्णपरर्वणि त्रयोचत्वारिंशदध्यायः (Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 43) — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Assessment and the Reversal Around Bhīma

Devanagari script

पुत्रसंकरिणो जाल्मा: सर्वन्नक्षीरभोजना:

Transliteration

putrasaṅkariṇo jālmāḥ sarvannakṣīrabhojanāḥ

Translation

Karna said: “You wretches, you are corrupters of lineage—men who eat anything and everything, living on milk and its products.”

Word by Word

• पुत्रसंकरिणः: those who cause mixing/confusion of progeny (adulterators of lineage)
• पुत्रसंकरिणः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पुत्रसंकरिन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• जाल्माः: wretches, vile men
• जाल्माः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जाल्म
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• सर्वान्नक्षीरभोजनाः: eaters of all kinds of food and milk (i.e., indiscriminate eaters)
• सर्वान्नक्षीरभोजनाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वान्नक्षीरभोजन
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line reflects how, in the heat of war, moral judgment is expressed through social categories—lineage, conduct, and discipline—yet it also shows the ethical danger of reducing opponents to abusive labels rather than assessing actions with restraint.

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna is speaking in anger, hurling a contemptuous insult at his opponents, accusing them of corrupting lineage and of indiscriminate, undisciplined living—rhetoric meant to demean and provoke amid the battlefield exchange.