Shloka 31
कृष्णोपदेशः, अर्जुनस्य क्षमा-याचनम्, कर्णवध-अनुज्ञा
Krishna’s Counsel, Arjuna’s Apology, and Authorization for Karṇa’s Slaying
तब कर्णने अत्यन्त कुपित हो सुदृढ़ धनुष हाथमें लेकर सानपर चढ़ाकर तेज किये हुए कंकपत्रयुक्त दस बाणोंद्वारा भीमसेनको घायल कर दिया। साथ ही एक तीखे भल्लसे उनके धनुषको भी काट डाला ।। ततो भीमो महाबाहुहेमपट्टवि भूषितम् । परिघं घोरमादाय मृत्युदण्डमिवापरम्
tataḥ karṇo 'tyantaṃ kupito dṛḍhaṃ dhanuḥ pāṇau gṛhītvā śāṇopari samāropya tīkṣṇīkṛtān kaṅkapatrayutān daśa bāṇān bhīmasenaṃ vyadhayat; sahaiva caikena tīkṣṇena bhallena tasya dhanuś chittvā. tato bhīmo mahābāhur hemapaṭṭavibhūṣitaṃ parighaṃ ghoraṃ ādāya mṛtyudaṇḍam ivāparam.
Sanjaya said: Then Karna, inflamed with fierce anger, seized his stout bow, set it upon the whetstone and honed it, and with ten sharpened arrows fitted with heron-feathers he wounded Bhimasena. At the same time, with a single keen bhalla-arrow he cut down Bhima’s bow as well. Thereupon the mighty-armed Bhima, adorned with a golden belt, took up a dreadful iron club—like another rod of Death itself—ready to answer violence with overwhelming force in the ruthless ethics of battlefield retaliation.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the battlefield ethic where skill, resolve, and controlled ferocity determine survival; anger fuels action, but the narrative implicitly contrasts destructive rage with the warrior’s obligation to respond decisively without abandoning discipline.
Karna, enraged, sharpens and shoots ten feathered arrows to wound Bhima and then severs Bhima’s bow with a bhalla-arrow; Bhima responds by taking up a terrifying iron club, likened to Death’s rod, preparing for close combat.