Shloka 61
शरैराचितसर्वाड्र: शोणितौघपरिप्लुत: । विभाति देह: कर्णस्य स्वरश्मिभिरिवांशुमान्
śarair ācita-sarvāṅgaḥ śoṇitaugha-pariplutaḥ | vibhāti dehaḥ karṇasya sva-raśmibhir ivāṃśumān ||
Sañjaya said: Karṇa’s body—its every limb packed with arrows and drenched in streaming blood—still shone forth, like the sun (Āṃśumān) blazing with its own rays. Even amid the brutal ethics of battlefield duty, the verse frames Karṇa’s wounded endurance as a grim radiance: valor and steadfastness persisting under the full cost of war.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the paradox of heroic radiance amid devastation: even when the body is pierced and blood-soaked, steadfast courage can appear ‘sun-like.’ It implicitly reflects the Mahābhārata’s ethical tension—kṣatriya duty and glory are inseparable from suffering and the terrible cost of war.
Sañjaya narrates the battlefield scene to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, describing Karṇa after intense fighting. Karṇa is covered with arrows and drenched in blood, yet he still appears resplendent, compared to the sun shining with its own rays.