Shloka 29
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 58 — Arjuna’s Arrow-Storm and Relief of Bhīmasena
पापं हि यत् त्वया कर्म घ्नता द्रोणं पुरा कृतम् । अद्य त्वां तप्स्यते तद् वै यथा न कुशलं तथा
sañjaya uvāca | pāpaṃ hi yat tvayā karma ghnatā droṇaṃ purā kṛtam | adya tvāṃ tapsyate tad vai yathā na kuśalaṃ tathā |
നീ മുമ്പ് ദ്രോണനെ വധിച്ച് ചെയ്ത പാപകർമ്മം, അത് ഇന്ന് തീർച്ചയായും നിന്നെ ദഹിപ്പിക്കും; അമംഗളകർമ്മംപോലെ അത് നിനക്കൊരു ക്ഷേമവും നൽകുകയില്ല.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames unethical violence as generating pāpa (moral demerit) that ripens into suffering: a past wrongful act becomes an inner and outer torment in the present, undermining kuśala (welfare/auspicious outcome) even amid battlefield success.
Sañjaya reports a taunt/threat directed at the opponent: the speaker invokes the earlier killing of Droṇa as a grievous sin and declares that this past deed will now ‘burn’ the addressee—suggesting imminent defeat and moral retribution in the ongoing battle.