Shloka 42
Adhyāya 41 — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Briefing and the Renewal of the Great Engagement
“शल्य! तब उस ब्राह्मणने एकान्तमें घूमते हुए मुझसे आकर कहा--*तुमने प्रमादवश मेरी होमधेनुके बछड़ेको मार डाला है। इसलिये तुम जिस समय रणक्षेत्रमें युद्ध करते-करते अत्यन्त भयको प्राप्त होओ उसी समय तुम्हारे रथका पहिया गड्ढेमें गिर जाय” ।। तस्माद् बिभेमि बलवद् ब्राह्मणव्याह्रतादहम् । एते हि सोमराजान ईश्वरा: सुखदुःखयो:,इति श्रीमहाभारते कर्णपर्वणि कर्णशल्यसंवादे द्विचत्वारिंशो5ध्याय:
śalya! tadā sa brāhmaṇa ekānte paribhraman mām upetya uvāca— tvayā pramādavaśān mama homadhenoḥ batsaḥ hataḥ; tasmāt tvaṁ yasmin kāle raṇakṣetre yuddhyamānaḥ atyanta-bhayaṁ prāpsyasi tasminn eva kāle tava rathasya cakraṁ gartte nipatiṣyati iti. tasmād bibhemi balavad brāhmaṇa-vyāhṛtād aham; ete hi somarājān īśvarāḥ sukha-duḥkhayoḥ.
Wika ni Sanjaya: “O Śalya, pagkaraan, ang Brahmin na iyon, habang ako’y naglalakad mag-isa sa isang liblib na lugar, ay lumapit sa akin at nagsabi: ‘Sa iyong kapabayaan, napatay mo ang guya ng aking sagradong bakang panghandog (homadhenu). Kaya sa mismong sandaling ikaw ay nakikipaglaban sa larangan ng digmaan at masakmal ng sukdulang takot, sa sandaling iyon lulubog sa hukay ang gulong ng iyong karwahe.’ Kaya’t labis kong kinatatakutan ang mga salitang binigkas ng Brahmin; sapagkat ang gayong mga pahayag ay may kapangyarihan sa ligaya at dalamhati.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Negligent harm done to what is protected and sacred (here, a Brahmin’s sacrificial cow’s calf) generates moral consequence that can ripen at a critical moment. The passage underscores the Mahabharata’s ethic that careless wrongdoing, especially against dharmic persons and ritual property, returns as fate-like obstruction in war.
Sanjaya recounts to Shalya a prior incident: a Brahmin confronts him (or the referenced warrior) and pronounces a curse that, at the moment of greatest fear during battle, the chariot wheel will sink into a pit. Sanjaya then admits his strong fear of that utterance, treating the Brahmin’s words as determinative of future joy and sorrow.