Shloka 39
Adhyāya 41 — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Briefing and the Renewal of the Great Engagement
अज्ञानद्धि क्षिपन् बाणान् घोररूपान् भयानकान् | होमधेन्वा वत्समस्य प्रमत्त इषुणाहनम्
ajñānād dhi kṣipan bāṇān ghorarūpān bhayānakān | homadhenuvā vatsaṁ asya pramatta iṣuṇā ahanam ||
Sanjaya berkata: “Dalam kejahilan, ketika aku melepaskan anak panah yang mengerikan dan menakutkan, aku dengan cuai telah menjatuhkan dengan sebatang anak panah sahaja anak lembu milik lembu korban suci (homadhenu) brahmana itu.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even unintended harm caused by carelessness is ethically weighty. Mastery of weapons demands restraint and vigilance; negligence that injures the innocent—especially what is protected by dharma, such as a Brahmin’s ritual property—creates serious moral consequence.
The speaker recounts an incident: while practicing and shooting frightening arrows, he unknowingly and through inattentiveness kills the calf of a Brahmin’s homadhenu with a single arrow, setting up the moral gravity of the act and its repercussions.