Shloka 10
कर्णवधप्रसङ्गः / The Context of Karṇa’s Fall
Krishna’s Dharmic Recollection and the Decisive Astra
अहं हि तं त्रिंशता वजकल्पै: समार्दयं निमिषस्यान्तरेण । क्षणाच्छवावित्समरूपो बभूव समार्दितो मद्विसृष्टे: पृषत्कै:,तब मैंने पलक मारते-मारते वज़्के समान तीस सुदृढ़ बाणोंद्वारा उसे क्षणभरमें पीड़ित कर दिया। मेरे छोड़े हुए बाणोंसे घायल होनेपर उसका स्वरूप काँटोंसे भरे साहीके समान दिखायी देने लगा
ahaṃ hi taṃ triṃśatā vajrakalpaiḥ samārdayaṃ nimiṣasyāntareṇa | kṣaṇāc chavāvitsamarūpo babhūva samārdito madvisṛṣṭaiḥ pṛṣatkaiḥ ||
Arjuna said: “In the space of a single blink, I struck him hard with thirty arrows, each like a thunderbolt. In a moment, wounded by the shafts I released, his form came to resemble a porcupine bristling with quills—an image of how swiftly and relentlessly the battle’s violence can transform a warrior’s body.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark reality of kṣatriya warfare: skill and speed can decisively overwhelm an opponent, yet the imagery (a body bristling like a porcupine) also highlights the bodily cost of violence, inviting reflection on the gravity of martial action even when performed as duty.
Arjuna describes a rapid exchange in battle: he shoots thirty extremely powerful arrows in the time it takes to blink, wounding his opponent so heavily that the opponent’s body appears covered with protruding shafts, like a porcupine’s quills.