Mahabharata 7.136.4 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 136, Shloka 4

Chapter 136: Pandava Counter-Encirclement and the Vāyavya-Astra Disruption

Devanagari script

तं भीमो दशभिर्बाणै: प्रत्यविध्यदजिद्वागै: । पुनर्विव्याध सप्तत्या शराणां नतपर्वणाम्‌

Transliteration

taṁ bhīmo daśabhir bāṇaiḥ pratyavidhyad ajidvāgaiḥ | punar vivyādha saptatyā śarāṇāṁ nataparvaṇām ||

Translation

तेव्हा भीमाने सरळ जाणाऱ्या दहा बाणांनी कर्णाला भेदून प्रत्युत्तर दिले. नंतर वाकड्या सांध्यांचे सत्तर बाण सोडून त्याने कर्णाला पुन्हा विद्ध केले.

Word by Word

• तम्: him (Karna)
• तम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• भीमः: Bhima
• भीमः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: भीम
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• दशभिः: with ten
• दशभिः: Karana
• Type: Numeral
• Root: दशन्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Plural

• बाणैः: arrows
• बाणैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: बाण
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• प्रत्यविध्यत्: pierced/struck in return
• Type: Verb
• Root: व्यध् (विध्यति) with प्रति-
• Form: Imperfect (Laṅ), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• अजिद्वागैः: swift/straight-going (in battle)
• अजिद्वागैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अजिद्वाग (अजि-द्वाग)
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• पुनः: again
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुनः

• विव्याध: pierced
• Type: Verb
• Root: व्यध्
• Form: Perfect (Liṭ), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• सप्तत्या: with seventy
• सप्तत्या: Karana
• Type: Numeral
• Root: सप्तति
• Form: Feminine, Instrumental, Singular

• शराणाम्: of arrows
• Type: Noun
• Root: शर
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• नतपर्वणाम्: having bent joints/knots (of the arrows)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नतपर्वन् (नत-पर्वन्)
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• संजय (Sañjaya)
• भीम (Bhīma)
• कर्ण (Karṇa)
• बाण/शर (arrows)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how, in war, actions invite immediate counteraction: retaliation becomes a driving force, and martial excellence is expressed through measured yet escalating response. Ethically, it underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between kṣatriya valor and the tragic momentum of violence once conflict is embraced.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya narrates that Bhīma strikes Karṇa in return with ten fast arrows, and then wounds him again with seventy specially jointed (barbed/bent-knotted) arrows, intensifying the exchange in their battlefield encounter.