Shloka 29
कर्णेन सैन्यस्थापनं तथा नानायुद्धसमवायः
Karna Reforms the Host and Multiple Duels Converge
कृतघ्नता परवित्तापहारो मद्यपानं गुरुदारावमर्द: । वाक्पारुष्यं गोवधो रात्रिचर्या बहिर्गेहं परवस्त्रोपभोग:
kṛtaghnatā paravittāpahāro madyapānaṃ gurudārāvamardaḥ | vākpāruṣyaṃ govadho rātricaryā bahirgehaṃ paravastrōpabhogaḥ ||
कर्ण उवाच—कृतघ्नता परवित्तापहारो मद्यपानं गुरुदारावमर्दः । वाक्पारुष्यं गोवधो रात्रिचर्या बहिर्गेहं परवस्त्रोपभोगः ॥ एतानि कर्माणि धर्मक्रमे निन्द्यानि पतनलक्षणानि च, लोकापवादकराणि च भवन्ति ।
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse lists behaviors condemned by dharma—ingratitude, theft, intoxication, sexual violation (especially involving the teacher’s wife), abusive speech, cow-killing, and other socially destructive acts—presenting them as markers of ethical degradation and sources of blame.
Karna is speaking in a didactic mode, enumerating actions regarded as grave moral faults. The statement functions as ethical instruction within the broader war-time discourse, emphasizing that even amid conflict, certain transgressions remain censurable.