Shloka 136
अध्याय ९ — कर्णस्य प्रहारः, योधयुग्मनियोजनम्, शैनेय-कैकेययोर्युद्धविन्यासः
स हि पारो महानासीत् पुत्राणां मम संजय । युद्धमें सूतपुत्र कर्णके मारे जानेपर मैं अपने पक्षके किसी भी वीरको ऐसा नहीं देखता
sa hi pāro mahān āsīt putrāṇāṁ mama sañjaya | yuddhe me sūtaputraḥ karṇe māre jāne ’paraṁ mama pakṣasya kañcid vīraṁ na paśyāmi yo jīvituṁ śaknoti | sañjaya! karṇa eva mama putrāṇāṁ pāram uttārayitā mahān avalamba āsīt |
ドリタラーシュトラは言った。「おおサンジャヤよ。彼こそ、わが子らを渡らせる大いなる岸であった。今や御者の子カルナが戦場で討たれ、わが陣営には生き残り得る英雄が一人として見えぬ。サンジャヤよ、カルナただ一人が、わが子らをこの危難の彼方へ運び得る強大な支えであったのだ。」
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the fragility of power built on a single pillar: when a faction relies on one extraordinary warrior as its ‘support’ and ‘ferry across danger,’ the fall of that person exposes the moral and strategic emptiness beneath. It also reflects how attachment and partiality cloud judgment—Dhṛtarāṣṭra measures survival and hope chiefly through martial strength rather than through dharma.
After Karṇa is killed in the Kurukṣetra war, Dhṛtarāṣṭra laments to Sañjaya that Karṇa had been the chief mainstay for saving his sons. With Karṇa gone, he foresees no remaining warrior on the Kaurava side capable of enduring the conflict.