Shloka 326
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 58 — Arjuna’s Arrow-Storm and Relief of Bhīmasena
यदि तावन्मया द्रोणो निहतो ब्राह्मणब्रुव: ३२ ।।
yadi tāvanmayā droṇo nihato brāhmaṇabruvaḥ | tvām idānīṃ kathaṃ yuddhe na haniṣyāmi vikramāt ||
सञ्जय उवाच—“यदि मया पूर्वमेव द्रोणो निहतो ब्राह्मणब्रुवः, तर्हि त्वामिदानीं संग्रामे विक्रमात् कथं न हनिष्यामि?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the war-ethic of prowess and retaliation: having overcome a famed opponent, the speaker asserts that valor obliges him to overcome the next. It also exposes an ethical sting—disparaging Droṇa as a mere ‘brāhmaṇa-claimer’—showing how battlefield rhetoric can weaponize social-religious identity to justify violence.
In the midst of the Kurukṣetra fighting, a warrior voice (reported by Sañjaya) boasts that since Droṇa has already been killed, the speaker will, by the same martial prowess, now kill the addressed opponent as well—escalating intimidation and resolve in combat.