Shloka 42
कर्णपरर्वणि त्रयोचत्वारिंशदध्यायः (Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 43) — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Assessment and the Reversal Around Bhīma
तयोरपत्यं वाहीका नैषा सृष्टि: प्रजापते: । ते कथं विविधान् धर्मान् ज्ञास्यन्ते हीनयोनय:
tayor apatyaṃ vāhīkā naiṣā sṛṣṭiḥ prajāpateḥ | te kathaṃ vividhān dharmān jñāsyante hīna-yonayaḥ ||
Karna disse: “Os Vāhīkas são a descendência daqueles dois; isto não é criação de Prajāpati. Como poderiam pessoas nascidas de um ventre vil compreender as muitas formas do dharma?”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a polemical claim that ethical understanding (dharma-jñāna) is unlikely in those deemed of ‘base origin.’ In context, it functions more as wartime rhetoric and social denigration than as a neutral philosophical doctrine.
Karna is speaking and disparages the Vāhīkas, asserting they are not a creation of Prajāpati and therefore cannot know the varieties of dharma—an insult used to undermine their moral and social standing.