Shloka 39
युधिष्ठिरस्य धनंजय-प्रति गर्हा
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Reproach to Dhanaṃjaya
(ततः पुनरमेयात्मा चेदीनां प्रवरान् दश । न्यहनद् भरतश्रेष्ठ कर्णो वैकर्तनस्तदा ।। भरतश्रेष्ठ) तदनन्तर अप्रमेय आत्मबलसे सम्पन्न वैकर्तन कर्णने चेदिदेशके दस प्रधान वीरोंको पुनः मार डाला। तस्य बाणसहस्राणि सम्प्रपन्नानि मारिष । दृश्यन्ते दिक्षु सर्वासु शलभानामिव व्रजा: ।। माननीय नरेश! कर्णके गिरते हुए सहस्रों बाण सम्पूर्ण दिशाओंमें टिड्डीदलोंके समान दिखायी देते थे। कर्णनामाड्किता बाणा: स्वर्णपुड्खा: सुतेजना: । नराश्वकायान् निर्भिद्य पेतुरुव्या समन्ततः ।। उसके नामसे अंकित सुवर्णमय पंखवाले तेज बाण मनुष्यों और घोड़ोंके शरीरोंको विदीर्ण करके सब ओरसे पृथ्वीपर गिरने लगे। कर्णेनैकेन समरे चेदीनां प्रवरा रथा: । सृंजयानां च सर्वेषां शतशो निहता रणे ।। समरांगणमें अकेले कर्णने चेदिदेशके प्रधान रथियोंका तथा सम्पूर्ण सूंजयोंके सैकड़ों योद्धाओंका भी संहार कर डाला। कर्णस्य शरसंछन्नं बभूव विपुलं तम: । नाज्ञायत ततः किज्चित् परेषामात्मनो5पि वा ।। कर्णके बाणोंसे सारी दिशाएँ ढक जानेके कारण वहाँ महान् अन्धकार छा गया। उस समय शत्रुपक्षकी तथा अपने पक्षकी भी कोई वस्तु पहचानी नहीं जाती थी। तस्मिंस्तमसि भूते च क्षत्रियाणां भयंकरे | विचचार महाबाहुनिर्दिहन् क्षत्रियान् बहून् ।।) शत्रुओंके लिये भयदायक उस घोर अन्धकारमें महाबाहु कर्ण बहुसंख्यक राजपूतोंको दग्ध करता हुआ विचरने लगा। ततः शरमहाज्वालो वीर्योष्मा कर्णपावक: । निर्दहन् पाण्डववनं वीर: पर्यचरद् रणे,उस समय वीर कर्ण अग्निके समान हो रहा था। बाण ही उसकी ऊँचेतक उठती हुई ज्वालाओंके समान थे, पराक्रम ही उसका ताप था और वह पाण्डवरूपी वनको दग्ध करता हुआ रणभूमिमें विचर रहा था
tataḥ punar ameyātmā cedīnāṁ pravarān daśa | nyahanad bharataśreṣṭha karṇo vaikartanas tadā ||
tasya bāṇasahasrāṇi samprapannāni māriṣa | dṛśyante dikṣu sarvāsu śalabhānām iva vrajāḥ ||
karṇanāmāṅkitā bāṇāḥ svarṇapuṅkhāḥ sutejanāḥ | narāśvakāyān nirbhidya petur uvyā samantataḥ ||
karṇenaikena samare cedīnāṁ pravarā rathāḥ | sṛñjayānāṁ ca sarveṣāṁ śataśo nihatā raṇe ||
karṇasya śarasaṁchannaṁ babhūva vipulaṁ tamaḥ | nājñāyata tataḥ kiñcit pareṣām ātmano 'pi vā ||
tasmiṁs tamasi bhūte ca kṣatriyāṇāṁ bhayaṅkare | vicacāra mahābāhur nirdihan kṣatriyān bahūn ||
tataḥ śaramahājvālo vīryoṣmā karṇapāvakaḥ | nirdahan pāṇḍavavanaṁ vīraḥ paryacarad raṇe ||
Sañjaya said: Then Karṇa, the son of the charioteer (Vaikartana), of immeasurable spirit, struck down again ten foremost warriors of the Cedis, O best of the Bharatas. His arrows, arriving in thousands, were seen in every direction like swarms of locusts. Those keen shafts, marked with Karṇa’s name and fitted with golden feathers, pierced the bodies of men and horses and fell all around upon the earth. In that battle, Karṇa alone slew by the hundreds the leading chariot-warriors of the Cedis and many among all the Sṛñjayas. With the quarters covered by Karṇa’s arrows, a vast darkness seemed to arise; nothing could then be distinguished—neither the enemy’s nor even one’s own. When that dreadful darkness, terrifying to the kṣatriyas, had come about, mighty-armed Karṇa moved through it, burning down many warriors. Then the hero Karṇa became like a fire: arrows were his towering flames, valor his scorching heat, and he ranged across the field, consuming the ‘forest’ of the Pāṇḍavas. Ethically, the passage intensifies the Mahābhārata’s tragic vision of war: prowess becomes indistinguishable from devastation, and the very conditions of battle (the ‘darkness’ of arrow-storms) erase discernment, symbolizing how violence obscures right judgment and makes friend and foe alike hard to recognize.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores how unchecked martial prowess can eclipse moral clarity: the ‘darkness’ created by arrow-volleys symbolizes the loss of discernment in war, where destruction spreads so widely that even one’s own side becomes hard to distinguish—an epic warning about violence obscuring dharma.
Sañjaya describes Karṇa’s overwhelming assault: he repeatedly slays leading Cedi fighters and many Sṛñjayas, filling the sky with thousands of arrows. The barrage creates a figurative darkness on the battlefield, and Karṇa moves through it like a blazing fire, ‘burning’ the Pāṇḍava host.