Karna Parva Adhyaya 43 Shloka 45 - Mahabharata | Thai | Vedapath

Vyasa

Shloka 45

कर्णपरर्वणि त्रयोचत्वारिंशदध्यायः (Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 43) — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Assessment and the Reversal Around Bhīma

Devanagari script

आरट्टा नाम ते देशा वाहीकं॑ नाम तज्जलम्‌ | ब्राह्मणापसदा यत्र तुल्यकाला: प्रजापते:

Transliteration

āraṭṭā nāma te deśā vāhīkaṃ nāma taj jalam | brāhmaṇāpasadā yatra tulyakālāḥ prajāpateḥ ||

Translation

กรรณะกล่าวว่า “แว่นแคว้นเหล่านั้นเรียกว่า ‘อารัฏฏะ’ และสายน้ำที่นั่นมีนามว่า ‘วาหีกะ’ ในถิ่นนั้นมีพราหมณ์ผู้เสื่อมจากฐานะ ประพฤติขัดต่อพระเวท อาศัยอยู่ และกล่าวกันว่าเก่าแก่เทียบเท่ายุคของประชาบดี”

Word by Word

आरट्टाःArattas (a people/region)

नामby name / called

तेthey/those

देशाःcountries/lands

वाहीकम्Vāhīka (name)

नामby name / called

तत्that

जलम्water

ब्राह्मणापसदाःdegraded/low Brahmins

यत्रwhere

तुल्यकालाःof equal time; contemporaneous

प्रजापतेःof Prajāpati

Speaker

कर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Karna

Āraṭṭa (Āraṭṭāḥ)

Vāhīka

Prajāpati

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 a dharmic critique framed through Vedic norms: merely bearing a revered social identity (Brahmin) is not sufficient—conduct aligned with the Veda is treated as the true measure; deviation is condemned as moral and social ‘fallenness’ (apasada).

What is happening in the narrative?

Karna is speaking polemically, identifying a region (Āraṭṭa) and its water (Vāhīka) while disparaging the inhabitants as ‘degraded Brahmins’ with Veda-opposed behavior, using antiquity (linked to Prajāpati’s age) to intensify the denunciation.