Mahabharata 11.21.8 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 8
अध्याय २१ — गान्धार्या वैकर्तनदर्शनम्
Gāndhārī’s Viewing of Vaikartana/Karṇa
अनाधुृष्य: परैर्युद्धे शत्रुभिर्मघवानिव । युगान्ताग्निरिवार्चिष्मान् हिमवानिव निश्चल:ः
anādṛṣyaḥ parair yuddhe śatrubhir maghavān iva | yugāntāgnir ivārciṣmān himavān iva niścalaḥ ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。戦において彼は他者に侵しがたく、敵に対するマガヴァーン（インドラ）のごとくであった。劫末の火のように赫々と燃え、ヒマヴァーン（ヒマラヤ）のように揺るがなかった。かくのごとき勇士カルナ—ドリタラーシュトラの子ドゥルヨーダナの拠り所となった者—が、今や嵐に折られた大樹のように、地に伏して討たれている。この段は戦の悲劇的転倒を示す。最強の守護者でさえ、堅固にして光輝く者でさえ倒され、残るのは嘆きとダルマの勘定、そして世の権勢の無常である。
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the impermanence of strength and status: even one who seems invincible and steadfast can fall. Ethically, it intensifies the Strī-parvan mood of lamentation and reflection—war consumes protectors and protected alike, forcing survivors to confront the moral cost of ambition and enmity.
Vaiśampāyana describes Karṇa’s former battlefield might through grand similes (Indra-like, end-of-age fire, Himalaya-like) and then states the reversal: Karṇa, who served as Duryodhana’s chief refuge and support, has been slain and lies fallen like a storm-toppled tree.
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