Shloka 10
कर्णभीमसमागमः | Karṇa–Bhīma Encounter
यदि हन्याच्च कौन्तेयं सूतपुत्र: कथंचन । दृष्टवा पार्थ हि निहतं स्वयं योत्स्यति केशव:
yadi hanyāc ca kaunteyaṃ sūtaputraḥ kathaṃcana | dṛṣṭvā pārtha hi nihataṃ svayaṃ yotsyati keśavaḥ ||
शल्य म्हणाला—जर कसेही करून सूतपुत्र (कर्ण) कौन्तेयाला (अर्जुनाला) मारून टाकील, तर पार्थ पडलेला पाहून केशव (कृष्ण) स्वतः युद्धास उभा राहील.
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral and cosmic stakes of the war: Arjuna’s fall would be so intolerable to Kṛṣṇa that he would abandon his chosen restraint and personally enter combat. It underscores how dharma in epic narrative is not only personal duty but also the maintenance of a larger moral order, where even a vow of non-participation can be overridden by the imperative to protect what is right.
Śalya, speaking in the context of the Karna–Arjuna confrontation, imagines a dire possibility: if Karna were to kill Arjuna, then Kṛṣṇa (as Arjuna’s charioteer and protector) would, upon seeing Arjuna slain, fight himself. The statement functions as a warning about the consequences of Arjuna’s death and the intensity of Kṛṣṇa’s commitment to him.