Shloka 2
संजय कहते हैं--भरतनन्दन! तदनन्तर कर्णका वध करनेके लिये कृतसंकल्प होकर जाते हुए अर्जुनसे अप्रमेयस्वरूप भगवान् श्रीकृष्णने पुन: इस प्रकार कहा ।। अद्य सप्तदशाहानि वर्तमानस्यथ भारत । विनाशस्यातिघोरस्य नरवारणवाजिनाम्,'भारत! मनुष्यों, हाथियों और घोड़ोंका जो यह अत्यन्त भयंकर विनाश चल रहा है, इसे आज सत्रह दिन हो गये
sañjaya uvāca—bharatanandana! tadanantaraṁ karṇakaṁ vadhaṁ kartuṁ kṛtasaṅkalpaḥ san gacchataḥ arjunasya aprameyasvarūpo bhagavān śrīkṛṣṇaḥ punaḥ evam uvāca—adya saptadaśāhāni vartamānasya, he bhārata, vināśasya atighorasya naravāraṇavājinām.
Sanjaya berkata: “Wahai kebanggaan keturunan Bharata! Setelah itu, ketika Arjuna berangkat dengan tekad yang teguh untuk membunuh Karna, Tuhan Yang Mulia Śrī Kṛṣṇa—yang hakikat-Nya tidak terukur—sekali lagi berkata kepadanya demikian: ‘Wahai Bharata, hari ini genaplah hari ketujuh belas bagi kebinasaan yang amat mengerikan ini, yang menimpa manusia, gajah, dan kuda.’”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral gravity and cumulative cost of war: as the slaughter continues day after day, Kṛṣṇa frames the conflict not as a momentary clash but as an ongoing, escalating devastation. It also highlights disciplined resolve (saṅkalpa) guided by divine counsel, implying that decisive action in a dharmic crisis must be taken with awareness of consequences and under right guidance.
Sanjaya reports that Arjuna, determined to kill Karna, is moving into action. At that moment Kṛṣṇa speaks again, marking that the terrible destruction of the Kurukṣetra war has reached its seventeenth day, setting the scene for the climactic confrontation involving Karna.