Shloka 10
कर्णवधप्रसङ्गः / The Context of Karṇa’s Fall
Krishna’s Dharmic Recollection and the Decisive Astra
अहं हि तं त्रिंशता वजकल्पै: समार्दयं निमिषस्यान्तरेण । क्षणाच्छवावित्समरूपो बभूव समार्दितो मद्विसृष्टे: पृषत्कै:
ahaṃ hi taṃ triṃśatā vajrakalpaiḥ samārdayaṃ nimiṣasyāntareṇa | kṣaṇāc chavāvitsamarūpo babhūva samārdito madvisṛṣṭaiḥ pṛṣatkaiḥ ||
Arjuna said: “In the space of a single blink, I struck him hard with thirty arrows, each like a thunderbolt. In a moment, wounded by the shafts I released, his form came to resemble a porcupine bristling with quills—an image of how swiftly and relentlessly the battle’s violence can transform a warrior’s body.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the stark reality of kṣatriya warfare: skill and speed can decisively overwhelm an opponent, yet the imagery (a body bristling like a porcupine) also highlights the bodily cost of violence, inviting reflection on the gravity of martial action even when performed as duty.
Arjuna describes a rapid exchange in battle: he shoots thirty extremely powerful arrows in the time it takes to blink, wounding his opponent so heavily that the opponent’s body appears covered with protruding shafts, like a porcupine’s quills.