Shloka 39
Adhyāya 41 — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Briefing and the Renewal of the Great Engagement
अज्ञानद्धि क्षिपन् बाणान् घोररूपान् भयानकान् | होमधेन्वा वत्समस्य प्रमत्त इषुणाहनम्
ajñānād dhi kṣipan bāṇān ghorarūpān bhayānakān | homadhenuvā vatsaṁ asya pramatta iṣuṇā ahanam ||
Sañjaya disse: “Na ignorância, enquanto disparava flechas terríveis e assustadoras, por descuido derrubei com um único dardo o bezerro da vaca sacrificial (homadhenu) daquele brâmane.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even unintended harm caused by carelessness is ethically weighty. Mastery of weapons demands restraint and vigilance; negligence that injures the innocent—especially what is protected by dharma, such as a Brahmin’s ritual property—creates serious moral consequence.
The speaker recounts an incident: while practicing and shooting frightening arrows, he unknowingly and through inattentiveness kills the calf of a Brahmin’s homadhenu with a single arrow, setting up the moral gravity of the act and its repercussions.