Shloka 55
स्रवद्वरणं गैरिकतोयविस्रवं गिरेयथा वज्हतं महाशिर: । देहाच्च कर्णस्य निपातितस्य तेज: सूर्य खं वितत्याविवेश
sravad-vraṇaṁ gairika-toya-visravaṁ gire yathā vajra-hataṁ mahā-śiraḥ | dehāc ca karṇasya nipātitasya tejaḥ sūrya-khaṁ vitatya āviveśa ||
Sañjaya said: “From Karṇa’s fallen body the blood streamed, red like ochre-water, as from a great mountain-peak struck by a thunderbolt. And the radiance that had belonged to him, spreading out, entered the sun-filled sky—signaling the close of a mighty life amid the terrible justice of war.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the impermanence of embodied power: even the greatest warrior’s body falls, while his tejas—symbolic of valor and life-force—returns to the cosmic order. It frames battlefield death as a solemn consequence of kṣatriya duty and the harsh moral gravity of war.
Sañjaya describes Karṇa after he has been felled: blood pours from his wounds like red ochre-water from a mountain struck by lightning, and his radiance departs upward into the sunlit sky, marking his death with a grand natural simile.