Shloka 17
कर्णेन मे महाबाहो सर्वसैन्यस्यथ पश्यत:
sañjaya uvāca — karṇena me mahābāho sarvasainyasya atha paśyataḥ; mahādhanurdhara mahābāho yuddhe yatnapūrvakaṃ lagna āsam, kintu karṇena sarvasainyasya paśyataḥ svabāṇaiḥ mama kavaca-dhvaja-dhanuḥ-śakti-aśva-bāṇānāṃ khaṇḍa-khaṇḍaṃ kṛtam.
Sañjaya disse: “Ó de braços poderosos! Enquanto todo o exército assistia, Karṇa despedaçou com suas flechas minha armadura, meu estandarte, meu arco, minha lança, meus cavalos e até minhas próprias setas—reduzindo tudo a fragmentos. Embora eu me empenhasse com todo o esforço na batalha, seu valor rompeu minhas defesas diante de todos.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between personal effort (yatna) and overpowering force on the battlefield: even a diligent warrior can be undone when confronted by a superior archer. Ethically, it underscores how public witnessing (sarvasainyasya paśyataḥ) shapes honor and reputation in kṣatriya warfare.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Karna, in full view of the assembled army, used his arrows to smash the narrator’s key martial supports—armor, standard, weapons, horses, and arrows—reducing them to fragments despite the narrator’s strenuous engagement in combat.