Shloka 326
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 58 — Arjuna’s Arrow-Storm and Relief of Bhīmasena
यदि तावन्मया द्रोणो निहतो ब्राह्मणब्रुव: ३२ ।। त्वामिदानीं कथं युद्धे न हनिष्यामि विक्रमात् । “यदि मैंने नाममात्रके ब्राह्मण द्रोणाचार्यको पहले मार डाला था, तो इस समय पराक्रम करके तुझे भी मैं कैसे नहीं मार डालूँगा”
yadi tāvanmayā droṇo nihato brāhmaṇabruvaḥ | tvām idānīṃ kathaṃ yuddhe na haniṣyāmi vikramāt ||
Sañjaya said: “If I have already slain Droṇa—one who merely claimed the status of a brāhmaṇa—then how, now in this battle, should I not also strike you down by force of my valor?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the war-ethic of prowess and retaliation: having overcome a famed opponent, the speaker asserts that valor obliges him to overcome the next. It also exposes an ethical sting—disparaging Droṇa as a mere ‘brāhmaṇa-claimer’—showing how battlefield rhetoric can weaponize social-religious identity to justify violence.
In the midst of the Kurukṣetra fighting, a warrior voice (reported by Sañjaya) boasts that since Droṇa has already been killed, the speaker will, by the same martial prowess, now kill the addressed opponent as well—escalating intimidation and resolve in combat.