Shloka 55

Devanagari script

स्रवद्वरणं गैरिकतोयविस्रवं गिरेयथा वज्हतं महाशिर: । देहाच्च कर्णस्य निपातितस्य तेज: सूर्य खं वितत्याविवेश

Transliteration

sravad-vraṇaṁ gairika-toya-visravaṁ gire yathā vajra-hataṁ mahā-śiraḥ | dehāc ca karṇasya nipātitasya tejaḥ sūrya-khaṁ vitatya āviveśa ||

Translation

स्रवद्व्रणं गैरिकतोयविस्रवं गिरेर्यथा वज्रहतं महाशिरः। देहाच्च कर्णस्य निपातितस्य तेजः सूर्यखं वितत्याविवेश॥

Word by Word

स्रवत्flowing, oozing

व्रणम्wound

गैरिकred ochre (gairika)

तोयwater

विस्रवम्oozing, flowing out

गिरेःfrom a mountain

यथाas, like

वज्रहतम्struck by a thunderbolt

महाशिरःa great peak/summit (lit. great head)

देहात्from the body

चand

कर्णस्यof Karna

निपातितस्यof (him) who had been felled/struck down

तेजःsplendor, radiance

सूर्यO Sun

खम्sky

वितत्यhaving spread out

आविवेशentered, pervaded

इवas if, like

ईशेrules, is lord (reading uncertain)

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Karṇa

vajra (thunderbolt)

sūrya (sun)

kha (sky)

giri (mountain)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

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.

What is happening in the narrative?

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.