Shloka 6

Devanagari script

अस्यतः कर्णिनाराचांस्तीक्षणाग्रांश्र शिलाशितान्‌ । कोडर्जुनस्थाग्रतस्तिषछ्ेदपि मृत्युर्जरातिग:,जो पत्थरपर रगड़कर तेज किये गये हैं, जिनके अग्रभाग बड़े तीखे हैं, उन कर्णि नामक नाराचोंका प्रहार करनेवाले अर्जुनके आगे कौन योद्धा ठहर सकता है? जराविजयी मृत्यु भी उनका सामना नहीं कर सकती

Transliteration

asyataḥ karṇinārācāṁs tīkṣṇāgrān śilāśitān | ko ’rjuna-sthāgratas tiṣṭhed api mṛtyur jarātigaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “When Arjuna lets fly those karṇin arrows—stone-honed and razor-pointed—what warrior could stand before him? Even Death itself, though it overcomes old age, cannot face him.”

Word by Word

अस्यतःshoots, hurls

कर्णिनाराचान्barbed iron arrows called ‘kārṇi’ (nārācas)

तीक्ष्णाग्रान्sharp-pointed

शिलाशितान्whetted on stone

कःwho?

अर्जुनस्यof Arjuna

अग्रतःin front, before

तिष्ठेत्could stand

अपिeven, also

मृत्युःDeath

जरातिगःone who surpasses old age (i.e., unconquered by decay)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Arjuna

Mṛtyu (Death)

karṇin-nārāca (arrows)

śilā (stone)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse heightens the sense of Arjuna’s martial excellence to the point of hyperbole—so formidable that even ‘Death’ is said to shrink back—underscoring the epic theme that extraordinary skill and resolve can appear to rival inevitability, even while mortality remains the ultimate horizon.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes Arjuna’s terrifying effectiveness in battle: he shoots a particular kind of arrow, sharpened on stone and extremely sharp, and the narrator asks rhetorically who could possibly stand before him.