Shloka 16
अद्य कुन्तीसुतस्याहं दृढं राज्ञ: प्रजागरम् व्यपनेष्यामि गोविन्द हत्वा कर्ण शितै: शरै:,“गोविन्द! आज मैं अपने पैने बाणोंसे कर्णको मारकर कुन्तीपुत्र राजा युधिष्ठटिरके चिन्ताजनित जागरणके स्थायी रोगको दूर कर दूँगा
adya kuntīsutasyāhaṁ dṛḍhaṁ rājñaḥ prajāgaram vyapaneṣyāmi govinda hatvā karṇaṁ śitaiḥ śaraiḥ
Sanjaya said: “Today, O Govinda, by slaying Karna with my keen arrows, I shall firmly remove the king—Kunti’s son—of his tormenting wakefulness born of anxiety.” The line frames the battlefield as not only a contest of arms but also a struggle to end a ruler’s moral and emotional burden, presenting victory as relief from grief and responsibility.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war is portrayed as addressing not only external enemies but also inner suffering: the king’s anxiety-driven sleeplessness is imagined as a ‘disease’ to be cured through decisive action. It raises an ethical tension typical of the epic—seeking relief and restoration of order through violence, while implying that leadership carries heavy psychological and moral burdens.
In the Karna Parva battle context, the speaker declares to Govinda (Kṛṣṇa) a resolve to kill Karna with sharp arrows, claiming that this will end Yudhiṣṭhira’s persistent anxious wakefulness. The statement connects Karna’s continued presence as a threat with the Pandava king’s ongoing distress.