Mahabharata 7.182.27 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 182, Shloka 27

Devanagari script

त्वदीयै: पुरुषव्यात्र योधमुख्यैर्महात्मभि: । शरजालसहसांशु: शरदीव दिवाकर:

Transliteration

tvadīyaiḥ puruṣavyāghra yodhamukhyair mahātmabhiḥ | śarajālasahasrāṃśuḥ śaradīva divākaraḥ ||

Translation

ヴァーユは言った。「人中の虎よ、そなたの第一の戦士たちは、いかに大いなる魂を持とうとも、カルナを見据えることすらできぬ。澄みきった秋空の太陽が千の光を散らすように、カルナは戦場で網のごとき矢の雨を広げるのだ。」

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'tvadīyaiḥ', 'definition': 'by/with your (belonging to you)'}, {'term': 'puruṣavyāghra', 'definition': 'tiger among men

• a heroic epithet'}, {'term': 'yodhamukhya', 'definition': 'chief/foremost warrior'}, {'term': 'mahātman', 'definition': 'great-souled, noble-minded'}, {'term': 'śarajāla', 'definition': 'a net/web of arrows'}, {'term': 'sahasrāṃśu', 'definition': 'thousand-rayed (epithet of the sun)'}, {'term': 'śarad', 'definition': 'autumn season

• symbol of clarity'}, {'term': 'divākara', 'definition': 'sun

Speaker

श्रीवायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• Karṇa
• the sun (Divākara / Sahasrāṃśu)
• arrows (śara)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how extraordinary prowess can create moral and psychological pressure in war: even noble warriors may falter before overwhelming skill. It also uses the autumn-sun image to suggest clarity and irresistible force—power that compels others to acknowledge reality rather than pride.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva addresses a heroic listener (implied by the epithet ‘puruṣavyāghra’) and describes Karṇa’s dominance on the battlefield: Karṇa releases such a dense, radiant barrage of arrows that the opposing champions cannot even look toward him, likened to the sun spreading its rays in the clear autumn sky.