Shloka 26
अध्याय ६० — कर्णस्य पाञ्चाल-सोमक-निग्रहः
Karna’s Suppression of the Panchala–Somaka Forces
तस्य दुःशासनो बाहुं सव्यं विव्याध मारिष । स तेन रुक्मपुड्खेन भल्लेनानतपर्वणा
tasya duḥśāsano bāhuṃ savyaṃ vivyādha māriṣa | sa tena rukmapuṅkhena bhallena ānataparvaṇā ||
Disse Sañjaya: Ó nobre, Duḥśāsana traspassou-lhe o braço esquerdo. Com aquela flecha de ponta larga, emplumada de ouro e com a haste de junta levemente curva, ele o atingiu.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war reduces moral life to bodily injury and retaliation: even when framed as kṣatriya conduct, repeated acts of wounding reveal the ethical erosion that accompanies prolonged conflict.
Sañjaya reports a battlefield moment in which Duḥśāsana strikes an opponent’s left arm with a bhalla arrow described as gold-fletched and structurally bent at the joint, highlighting the immediacy and severity of the combat.