Shloka 42
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय १४० (कृष्णेन कर्णं प्रति पाण्डवबल-वैशिष्ट्यप्रदर्शनम्) / Udyoga Parva, Chapter 140
Krishna’s appraisal of Pandava advantage and war portents
गाण्डीवधारी अर्जुनके छोड़े हुए तथा द्रोणाचार्य, अश्वत्थामा एवं अन्य महारथियोंके चलाये हुए बाण यज्ञकुण्डके सब ओर बिछाये जानेवाले कुशोंका काम देंगे ।।
gāṇḍīvadhārī arjunake choṛe hue tathā droṇācārya, aśvatthāmā evaṃ anya mahārathiyoṃ ke calāye hue bāṇa yajñakuṇḍ ke sab ora bichāye jāne vāle kuśoṃ kā kāma deṅge || pratiprāsthānikaṃ karma sātyakis tu kariṣyati | dīkṣito dhārtarāṣṭro 'tra patnī cāsya mahācamūḥ |
カルナは宣言した。「ガーンディーヴァを携えるアルジュナの放つ矢、またドローナ、アシュヴァッターマン、その他の大車戦士が放つ矢は、供犠の壇を四方に囲んで敷かれるクシャ草の役を果たすであろう。サーティヤキはプラティプラスタートリ（補助祭官）の務めを担う。この『戦の供犠』においては、ダーリタラーシュトラの王子（ドゥルヨーダナ）が祭主として灌頂の戒を受け、その大軍こそが祭主の妻に代わって立つのだ。」
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how powerful rhetoric can ritualize and thereby morally sanitize violence: by calling war a ‘sacrifice’, Karna frames killing as sacred duty. The ethical tension lies in this inversion—dharma-language is used to legitimize adharma-like outcomes, urging the listener to examine intention, justice, and consequence rather than mere ceremonial framing.
Karna is describing the coming battle in the idiom of a Vedic sacrifice. Arrows become the ritual kuśa spread around the altar; Sātyaki is assigned a priestly role; Duryodhana is portrayed as the consecrated sacrificer; and the Kaurava army is cast as the sacrificer’s wife—an elaborate metaphor that presents the battlefield as a yajña.