Shloka 6
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Anxiety and Sañjaya’s Report on the Pandavas’ Coalition
Kāmyaka Context
अस्यतः कर्णिनाराचांस्तीक्षणाग्रांश्र शिलाशितान् । कोडर्जुनस्थाग्रतस्तिषछ्ेदपि मृत्युर्जरातिग:,जो पत्थरपर रगड़कर तेज किये गये हैं, जिनके अग्रभाग बड़े तीखे हैं, उन कर्णि नामक नाराचोंका प्रहार करनेवाले अर्जुनके आगे कौन योद्धा ठहर सकता है? जराविजयी मृत्यु भी उनका सामना नहीं कर सकती
asyataḥ karṇinārācāṁs tīkṣṇāgrān śilāśitān | ko ’rjuna-sthāgratas tiṣṭhed api mṛtyur jarātigaḥ ||
Wika ni Vaiśampāyana: “Kapag pinakawalan ni Arjuna ang mga palasong karṇin—hinasa sa bato at matalim ang dulo na parang talim—sinong mandirigma ang makatatayo sa harap niya? Maging ang Kamatayan mismo, na dumaraig sa katandaan, ay hindi makakaharap sa kanya.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse heightens the sense of Arjuna’s martial excellence to the point of hyperbole—so formidable that even ‘Death’ is said to shrink back—underscoring the epic theme that extraordinary skill and resolve can appear to rival inevitability, even while mortality remains the ultimate horizon.
Vaiśampāyana describes Arjuna’s terrifying effectiveness in battle: he shoots a particular kind of arrow, sharpened on stone and extremely sharp, and the narrator asks rhetorically who could possibly stand before him.