Shloka 3736
Aśvatthāman’s Arrow-Screen and the Confrontation with Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रौणि–युधिष्ठिर-संग्रामः)
त्वं पुत्रस्तादृशीनां हि धर्म वक्तुमिहेच्छसि । जो ऊँटों और गदहोंके समान खड़ी-खड़ी मूतती हैं तथा जो धर्मसे भ्रष्ट होकर लज्जाको तिलांजलि दे चुकी हैं, वैसी मद्रनिवासिनी स्त्रियोंके पुत्र होकर तुम मुझे यहाँ धर्मका उपदेश करना चाहते हो
tvaṁ putras tādṛśīnāṁ hi dharma vaktum ihecchasi |
Karna said: “You—being the son of such women—still wish to speak to me here about dharma?” (He hurls a contemptuous insult, rejecting moral counsel by attacking the opponent’s lineage rather than engaging the ethical argument.)
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates a breakdown of ethical discourse: instead of addressing dharma on its merits, Karna dismisses the other’s moral instruction through a personal attack on birth and background, showing how anger and contempt can eclipse principled reasoning.
In the Karna Parva battle context, Karna responds to an opponent’s or interlocutor’s appeal to dharma by rebuking him harshly, implying that someone of such parentage has no standing to lecture him on righteousness.