Shloka 27
कर्णेन युधिष्ठिरानीकविदारणम् / Karṇa’s Breach of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Battle-Line
सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ कृत्वा चक्रे रथवरोत्तमे | पक्षौ पूर्वापरौ तत्र कृते सत्यहनी शुभे,उस श्रेष्ठ रथमें सूर्य और चन्द्रमाको दोनों पहिये बनाकर सुन्दर रात्रि और दिनको वहाँ पूर्वपक्ष और अपरपक्षके रूपमें प्रतिष्ठित किया
sūryācandramasau kṛtvā cakre rathavarottame | pakṣau pūrvāparau tatra kṛte satyahanī śubhe ||
Duryodhana nói: “Trên cỗ chiến xa tối thượng ấy, người ta đã lấy Mặt Trời và Mặt Trăng làm hai bánh xe; rồi đặt đôi rực sáng—ngày và đêm—làm hai nửa (phần trước và phần sau), như thể dựng lập ngay trật tự của thời gian trên cỗ xe ấy.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses cosmic symbolism to convey overwhelming martial magnificence: by imagining the Sun and Moon as wheels and day–night as paired halves, it frames royal power as aspiring to encompass the very order of time—an image that also hints at the ethical danger of pride when worldly might is equated with cosmic authority.
Duryodhana is describing (in heightened, poetic terms) an extraordinarily splendid chariot, portraying it as so grand that its parts can be likened to celestial bodies and the cycle of day and night, thereby exalting the warrior’s martial presence on the battlefield.