Shloka 1083
Adhyāya 141 — Night duels: Śaineya and Bhūriśravas; Droṇi and Ghaṭotkaca; Bhīma and Duryodhana
तथा त्वां घातयिष्यामि पश्यत्सु सर्वराजसु । “नीच कुलमें पैदा हुए कर्ण! आ, मेरे साथ मल्ल-युद्ध कर ले। जैसे मैंने महान् बलशाली महाभोगी कीचकको पीस डाला था, उसी प्रकार इन समस्त राजाओंके देखते-देखते मैं तुझे अभी मौतके हवाले कर दूँगा”
tathā tvāṃ ghātayiṣyāmi paśyatsu sarvarājasu | nīcakuleṃ janitaḥ karṇa āgaccha mayā saha malla-yuddhaṃ kuru | yathā mayā mahān balavān mahābhogī kīcakaḥ pīṣitaḥ tathā teṣāṃ samastānāṃ rājñāṃ paśyatāṃ paśyatāṃ tvām adyaiva mṛtyor havāle kariṣyāmi ||
サンジャヤは言った。「『こうしてお前を討つ。諸王が見守る中でな。――卑しき家に生まれたカルナよ、来い、我と組み討ちせよ！ 我が強大にして力ある、享楽に溺れたキー チャカを粉砕したように、同じくこの諸王の眼前で、今この瞬間、お前を死に引き渡してやる。』」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how wartime rhetoric often mixes valor with adharma in speech: lineage-based insult and public humiliation are used to provoke combat. It implicitly contrasts true kṣatriya honor—measured by conduct and courage—with the ethical lapse of demeaning birth, showing how anger and pride can distort dharmic restraint even amid justified battle.
In the Drona Parva’s climactic fighting, a warrior issues a public challenge to Karna, demanding a wrestling bout and boasting that he will kill him in front of the assembled kings. To intensify the threat, he cites his earlier feat of killing Kīcaka, presenting it as proof that he can similarly ‘crush’ Karna and deliver him to death immediately.