Shloka 54
अध्याय ९ — कर्णस्य प्रहारः, योधयुग्मनियोजनम्, शैनेय-कैकेययोर्युद्धविन्यासः
विमुज्चन्तं शरान् घोरान् दिव्यान्यस्त्राणि चाहवे । जेतुं पुरुषशार्दूलं शार्टूलमिव वेगिनम्
vimuñcantaṃ śarān ghorān divyāny astrāṇi cāhave | jetuṃ puruṣaśārdūlaṃ śārdūlam iva veginam | siṃhake samāna-vegāśālī puruṣasiṃhaḥ karṇaḥ yadā svaṃ vipulaṃ dhanuḥ kampayan raṇabhūmau divyāstrāṇi ca bhayaṅkarān bāṇān ca vimuñcati, tadā taṃ kaḥ jetuṃ śaknoti?
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「カルナ――人々の中の獅子、虎のごとく迅く、獅子のごとく猛き者――がその大弓を震わせ、戦場にて恐るべき矢を放ち、天界の武器をも繰り出していたとき、いったい誰がその時の彼を打ち破れようか。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the awe inspired by extraordinary power in war—especially when a warrior commands divine weapons—while implicitly reminding the reader that apparent invincibility in battle does not erase the ethical weight of violence or the larger forces (vows, destiny, dharma) that shape outcomes in the Mahābhārata.
Vaiśampāyana describes Karṇa in peak combat form: he shakes his great bow and showers the battlefield with fearsome arrows and celestial missiles. The narration is a rhetorical praise meant to convey that, at that moment, defeating Karṇa seemed nearly impossible.