Shloka 42
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय १४० (कृष्णेन कर्णं प्रति पाण्डवबल-वैशिष्ट्यप्रदर्शनम्) / Udyoga Parva, Chapter 140
Krishna’s appraisal of Pandava advantage and war portents
गाण्डीवधारी अर्जुनके छोड़े हुए तथा द्रोणाचार्य, अश्वत्थामा एवं अन्य महारथियोंके चलाये हुए बाण यज्ञकुण्डके सब ओर बिछाये जानेवाले कुशोंका काम देंगे ।। प्रतिप्रास्थानिकं कर्म सात्यकिस्तु करिष्यति । दीक्षितों धार्तराष्ट्रोडत्र पत्नी चास्य महाचमू:,सात्यकि प्रतिस्थाता (अध्वर्युके दूसरे सहयोगी)-का कार्य करेंगे। धृतराष्ट्रपुत्र दुर्योधन इस रणयज्ञकी दीक्षा लेगा और उसकी विशाल सेना ही यजमानपत्नीका काम करेगी
gāṇḍīvadhārī arjunake choṛe hue tathā droṇācārya, aśvatthāmā evaṃ anya mahārathiyoṃ ke calāye hue bāṇa yajñakuṇḍ ke sab ora bichāye jāne vāle kuśoṃ kā kāma deṅge || pratiprāsthānikaṃ karma sātyakis tu kariṣyati | dīkṣito dhārtarāṣṭro 'tra patnī cāsya mahācamūḥ |
Karna declara: “As flechas lançadas por Arjuna, portador do Gāṇḍīva, e as flechas disparadas por Droṇa, Aśvatthāmā e outros grandes guerreiros de carro, servirão como a relva kuśa espalhada ao redor do altar do sacrifício. Sātyaki desempenhará a função de pratiprasthātṛ (sacerdote assistente). Neste ‘sacrifício de batalha’, o príncipe dhārtarāṣṭra (Duryodhana) receberá a consagração como sacrificante, e seu vasto exército fará as vezes da esposa do sacrificante.”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how powerful rhetoric can ritualize and thereby morally sanitize violence: by calling war a ‘sacrifice’, Karna frames killing as sacred duty. The ethical tension lies in this inversion—dharma-language is used to legitimize adharma-like outcomes, urging the listener to examine intention, justice, and consequence rather than mere ceremonial framing.
Karna is describing the coming battle in the idiom of a Vedic sacrifice. Arrows become the ritual kuśa spread around the altar; Sātyaki is assigned a priestly role; Duryodhana is portrayed as the consecrated sacrificer; and the Kaurava army is cast as the sacrificer’s wife—an elaborate metaphor that presents the battlefield as a yajña.