Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 58 — Arjuna’s Arrow-Storm and Relief of Bhīmasena
येनैव ते पितुर्दत्तं यतमानस्य संयुगे । अश्वत्थामाके ऐसा कहनेपर प्रतापी धृष्टद्युम्नने उससे इस प्रकार उत्तर दिया--“अरे! तेरी इस बातका जवाब तुझे मेरी वही तलवार देगी
yenaiva te pitur dattaṃ yatamānasya saṃyuge |
三阇耶说道:“正是用那同一件(兵器),你父亲在战阵中为胜利奋力之时被击倒……” 阿湿婆他摩如此言罢,骁勇的提湿多瑜摩那答道:“嘿!你这话的回答,将由我那把剑来给你——正是它在战场上给了你父亲同样的回答。”
संजय उवाच
The passage highlights the grim moral logic of wartime retaliation: personal enmity and the code of the warrior (kṣatriya-dharma) can harden into a cycle where ‘answer’ is given not by reasoning but by the same violence previously inflicted.
In the Karṇa Parva battle narrative, Aśvatthāmā speaks, and Dhṛṣṭadyumna responds fiercely, declaring that the very sword/means by which Droṇa (Aśvatthāmā’s father) was brought down in battle will be his reply—escalating the confrontation through a direct threat grounded in past killing.