Shloka 10
शरवर्षेण महता प्रत्यवारयदागतान् | नरेश्वर! वैकर्तन कर्णने वहाँ आये हुए सम्पूर्ण महाधनुर्धरोंको अपने बाणोंकी भारी वर्षासे रोक दिया ।। शरौघान् विसृजन्तस्ते प्रेरयन्तश्न॒ तोमरान्
sañjaya uvāca | śaravarṣeṇa mahatā pratyavārayad āgatān | nareśvara! vaikartanaḥ karṇo vahāṃ āye hue sampūrṇa mahādhanuḥdharān ko apane bāṇoṃ kī bhārī varṣā se rok diyā || śaraughān visṛjantaste prerayantashna tomarān ||
Санджая сказал: О царь, Вайкартана Карна могучим дождём стрел остановил наступавших — всех великих лучников, что двинулись на него. Хотя они продолжали осыпать его тучами стрел и метать томары, ответный град Карны сдержал их, и их натиск захлебнулся среди бури оружия.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the kṣatriya ethic of steadfastness under attack: disciplined force used to check an advancing enemy. It also highlights the Mahābhārata’s moral tension—martial excellence can be admirable as duty, yet it serves a destructive war, inviting reflection on the cost of prowess when dharma is contested.
Sanjaya reports to the king that Karna, called Vaikartana, halts the advance of many great archers by unleashing an intense rain of arrows. The battlefield is depicted as a mutual exchange of missiles—streams of arrows and hurled spears—yet Karna’s counterattack successfully checks the oncoming force.