Shloka 43

Aśvatthāman’s Arrow-Screen and the Confrontation with Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रौणि–युधिष्ठिर-संग्रामः)

Devanagari script

एष मुख्यतमो धर्म: क्षत्रियस्येति नः श्रुतम्‌

Transliteration

eṣa mukhyatamo dharmaḥ kṣatriyasyeti naḥ śrutam

Translation

కర్ణుడు అన్నాడు: “ఇదే క్షత్రియుని అత్యున్నత ధర్మమని మేము విన్నాము.”

Word by Word

• एषः: this
• एषः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: एतद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• मुख्यतमः: the most important
• मुख्यतमः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मुख्यतम
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• धर्मः: duty; dharma
• धर्मः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्म
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• क्षत्रियस्य: of a kshatriya
• क्षत्रियस्य: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षत्रिय
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• इति: thus; 'so'
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• नः: of us; to us
• नः: Sampradana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: Genitive, Plural

• श्रुतम्: has been heard (by us); we have heard
• Type: Verb
• Root: श्रु (धातु) → श्रुत (क्त)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Karna
• kṣatriya (warrior class)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Karna appeals to received tradition to assert that a kṣatriya’s highest dharma is to uphold the warrior’s code—placing duty and righteous obligation above personal hesitation, especially in the context of battle and honor.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karṇa-parvan, Karna is speaking amid the war setting and frames the immediate course of action as sanctioned by established teaching: he claims that what is being urged or undertaken is the foremost kṣatriya-duty, grounding his stance in what “we have heard” from tradition.