Shloka 52
अद्यानृण्यं गमिष्यामि हत्वा कर्ण महाहवे । “माधव! आज महासमरमें कर्णका वध करके मैं धृष्टद्युम्न, शिखण्डी तथा पांचालोंके ऋणसे छुटकारा पा जाऊँगा ।। अद्य पश्यन्तु संग्रामे धनंजयममर्षणम्
adyānṛṇyaṃ gamiṣyāmi hatvā karṇa mahāhave | adya paśyantu saṃgrāme dhanañjayam amarṣaṇam ||
Sañjaya said: “Today I shall be freed from my debt—by slaying Karṇa in the great battle. Let them see today, on the field of war, Dhanañjaya (Arjuna), the unenduring of insult.” The utterance frames Arjuna’s resolve as a moral settling of obligations owed to allies and to the cause of justice, expressed through the harsh currency of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a warrior-ethic where obligations to allies and to a righteous cause are conceived as a ‘debt’ that must be discharged; in the epic’s moral world, fulfilling one’s pledged duty (even through violent means in war) is portrayed as restoring ethical balance.
Sañjaya reports a declaration of intent: the speaker (contextually Arjuna) vows that on this very day he will kill Karṇa in the great battle, and that others will witness Dhanañjaya’s fierce, unyielding prowess on the battlefield.