Mahabharata 11.21.11 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 11
अध्याय २१ — गान्धार्या वैकर्तनदर्शनम्
Gāndhārī’s Viewing of Vaikartana/Karṇa
आचार्यशापो<नुगतो ध्रुवं त्वां यदग्रसच्चक्रमिदं धरित्री । तत: शरेणापहतं शिरस्ते धनंजयेनाहवशोभिना युधि
ācāryaśāpo 'nugato dhruvaṃ tvāṃ yad agrasac cakram idaṃ dharitri | tataḥ śareṇāpahataṃ śiras te dhanaṃjayenāhavaśobhinā yudhi ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「まことに師の呪いが汝に及んだのだ。大地がこの車輪を固く呑み込み、捕らえたゆえに。ゆえに戦場にて、戦陣を輝かせる者ダナンジャヤ（アルジュナ）の矢が汝の首級を打ち落とした。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a warrior’s downfall as the convergence of moral causality (a teacher’s curse) and battlefield circumstance: when one is bound by prior wrongdoing and its consequences, even a small turn of events (the wheel caught in the earth) can become the doorway through which fate and justice operate.
The speaker explains that the opponent was immobilized when the chariot wheel became stuck in the earth; at that moment, Arjuna (Dhanañjaya), famed for splendor in battle, struck off his head with an arrow—presented as the fulfillment of an earlier curse.
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