Shloka 8
कर्णपर्व — अध्याय ४०
Karṇa’s Pressure on the Pāñcālas; Duryodhana Disabled; Arjuna’s Counter-Advance
आयुधस्य परिज्ञानं रुतं च मृगपक्षिणाम् | भारश्षाप्यतिभारकश्न शल्यानां च प्रतिक्रिया
āyudhasya parijñānaṃ rutaṃ ca mṛgapakṣiṇām | bhāraś cāpy atibhārakaś ca śalyānāṃ ca pratikriyā ||
Sañjaya berkata: “(Dia memiliki) pengetahuan mendalam tentang senjata; dia dapat menafsirkan jeritan binatang dan burung; dia memahami sukatan beban—yang wajar mahupun yang berlebihan—dan dia juga mengetahui rawatan serta langkah balas bagi luka akibat peluru dan serpihan.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ideal of comprehensive competence in a warrior’s world: mastery of arms, attentiveness to signs in nature, and practical wisdom about bodily limits and medical remedies. Ethically, it suggests that power in war is not only aggression but also disciplined knowledge and responsibility toward life and injury.
Sañjaya is describing a person’s capabilities and training in the context of the Karṇa Parva’s battlefield narrative—enumerating skills such as weapon-expertise, interpreting animal and bird calls (often treated as omens), judging burdens, and knowing treatments for wounds caused by embedded missiles or splinters.