Shloka 3
अध्याय २१ — गान्धार्या वैकर्तनदर्शनम्
Gāndhārī’s Viewing of Vaikartana/Karṇa
अमर्षी दीर्घरोषश्न महेष्वासो महाबल: । रणे विनिहत: शेते शूरो गाण्डीवधन्चना,शूरवीर कर्ण महान् बलवान् और महाधनुर्धर था। यह दीर्घकालतक रोषमें भरा रहनेवाला और अमर्षशील था, परंतु गाण्डीवधारी अर्जुनके हाथसे मारा जाकर यह वीर रणभूमिमें सो गया है
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: amarṣī dīrgharoṣaś ca maheṣvāso mahābalaḥ | raṇe vinihataḥ śete śūro gāṇḍīvadhanvanā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The warrior—intolerant of affronts and long-nursing in anger, a mighty archer and a man of great strength—now lies on the battlefield, slain in combat by the bowman who bears the Gāṇḍīva. The verse underscores how even formidable power, when driven by enduring wrath, meets its end within the moral catastrophe of war.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of worldly might: even a supremely powerful archer falls. It also hints at the ethical cost of sustained anger—dīrgharoṣa—within the larger tragedy of the Kurukṣetra war, where valor does not prevent ruin.
In the Stree Parva’s lamentation context, the narrator points to a fallen hero on the battlefield, describing his qualities—great strength and archery, yet marked by enduring wrath—and states that he now lies slain by the Gāṇḍīva-bearer, i.e., Arjuna.