Shloka 29
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
द्यां युगं युगचर्माणि संवर्तकबलाहकान् । कालपृष्ठोडथ नहुष: कर्कोटकधनंजयौ
dyāṃ yugaṃ yugacarmāṇi saṃvartakabalāhakān | kālapṛṣṭho ’tha nahuṣaḥ karkoṭakadhanaṃjayau ||
Duryodhana berkata: “Langit itu sendiri menjadi kuk; kulit-kulit segala yuga menjadi tali kuk; dan awan-awan besar zaman pralaya menjadi alat pengikat. Kālapṛṣṭha, Nahuṣa, Karkoṭaka, dan Dhanaṃjaya—bersama nāga yang lain—dijadikan tali untuk mengikat surai kuda, sementara segala arah dan arah perantaraan mengambil rupa sebagai tali kekang kuda-kuda kereta.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how a warrior-king’s rhetoric can inflate human conflict into cosmic inevitability. Ethically, it warns that grandiose self-justification and fascination with power can eclipse discernment (dharma-vicāra) and the duty to restrain violence.
Duryodhana describes an imagined, cosmic-scale chariot harnessing: sky as yoke, pralaya-clouds as gear, nāgas as fastening ropes, and the directions as reins. It is a poetic intensification of the war’s magnitude and his own martial resolve.