Shloka 16
अर्जुनकर्णसंनिपातवर्णनम् / The Convergence of Arjuna and Karṇa
तस्य द्वेषेण संयुक्त: परिदहों धनंजय । आत्मनो मरणे यातो वाध्रीणस इव द्विप:
tasya dveṣeṇa saṁyuktaḥ paridaho dhanaṁjaya | ātmano maraṇe yāto vādhṛīṇasa iva dvipaḥ ||
धनंजया! त्याच्याविषयीच्या द्वेषाने मी सतत आतून जळत राहिलो. जसा ‘वाध्रीणस’ नावाचा प्राणी स्वतःच्या मृत्यूसाठीच वधस्थानी जातो, तसाच मीही जणू माझ्या मृत्यूसाठी कर्णास सामोरा गेलो होतो.
युधिषछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that hatred (dveṣa) can become an inner conflagration (paridāha) that drives one toward reckless, self-harming choices. Even in a dharma-framed war, unchecked aversion clouds judgment and can make a person act as though seeking their own destruction.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Arjuna (Dhanañjaya), confessing that his animosity toward Karṇa had so inflamed him that he went to confront Karṇa in a near-suicidal state of mind, likened to the vādhṛīṇasa creature heading to the slaughter-place.