Mahabharata 7.149.36 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 149, Shloka 36
अलंबलवधः (Alaṃbala-vadhaḥ) / The Slaying of Alaṃbala and the Advance toward Karṇa
अहं ज्ञास्यामि कौन्तेय कालमस्य दुरात्मन: । यत्रैनं विशिखैस्ती3क्ष्ग: पातयिष्यसि भूतले,“कुन्तीकुमार! मैं उस दुरात्माका अन्तकाल जानता हूँ, जब कि तुम अपने तीखे बाणोंद्वारा उसे पृथ्वीपर मार गिराओगे”
ahaṁ jñāsyāmi kaunteya kālam asya durātmanaḥ | yatra enaṁ viśikhaiḥ tīkṣṇaiḥ pātayiṣyasi bhūtale ||
சஞ்சயன் கூறினான்—ஓ கௌந்தேயா! இந்தத் துராத்மாவின் முடிவுக் காலத்தை நான் அறிவேன்—நீ உன் கூரிய அம்புகளால் அவனைப் பூமியில் வீழ்த்தும் அந்த நொடி.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes kāla (the appointed time) as the moral and narrative mechanism by which adharma reaches its end: the ‘wicked one’ is not merely killed, but meets a foreseen consequence through the rightful agency of a dharma-aligned warrior.
Sañjaya addresses Arjuna (Kaunteya), declaring certainty about the moment when Arjuna will bring down an unnamed ‘wicked man’ with sharp arrows, foreshadowing an imminent battlefield death and reinforcing the inevitability of the outcome.
Ask anything about this verse
Curious about the meaning, context, or a word? Ask, and continue the conversation in the Vedapath app.
A free Google sign-in keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Mahabharata in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with audio, word-by-word meanings, and more.