Shloka 26
कर्णेन सैन्यस्थापनं तथा नानायुद्धसमवायः
Karna Reforms the Host and Multiple Duels Converge
राजयाजकयाज्यानां मद्रकाणां च यन्मलम् | तद् भवेद् वै तव मल यद्यस्मान्न विमुड्चसि,“राजपुरोहितोंके पुरोहितों तथा मद्रदेशवासियोंका जो मल है, वह सब तुम्हें प्राप्त हो, यदि इस सरोवरसे तुम मेरा उद्धार न कर दो”
rājayājakayājyānāṁ madrakāṇāṁ ca yan malam | tad bhaved vai tava mala yadyasmān na vimuñcasi ||
Karna berkata: «Jika engkau tidak melepaskan aku dari tasik ini, maka biarlah segala kenajisan yang dikaitkan dengan pendeta istana dan mereka yang untuknya korban dipersembahkan, serta kekotoran yang dituduhkan kepada orang Madra, menimpa engkau sebagai kenajisanmu sendiri.»
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how ethical conduct (dharma) is tested under pressure: instead of appealing through compassion or righteousness, Karna uses a threat framed in ritual-social impurity. It warns that desperation can distort speech into coercion, and that invoking purity/impurity as a weapon reflects moral strain in wartime.
Karna, hindered in a lake/pond (as indicated by the contextual gloss), addresses another party and demands to be freed. To force compliance, he pronounces an imprecation: if he is not released, the ‘mala’ (defilement) associated with certain ritual agents and the Madra people should fall upon the hearer.