Shloka 326
Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 58 — Arjuna’s Arrow-Storm and Relief of Bhīmasena
यदि तावन्मया द्रोणो निहतो ब्राह्मणब्रुव: ३२ ।।
yadi tāvanmayā droṇo nihato brāhmaṇabruvaḥ | tvām idānīṃ kathaṃ yuddhe na haniṣyāmi vikramāt ||
三阇耶说道：“若我已杀了德罗那——不过是自称婆罗门者——那么如今在此战中，我又怎会不凭勇力将你击倒？”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the war-ethic of prowess and retaliation: having overcome a famed opponent, the speaker asserts that valor obliges him to overcome the next. It also exposes an ethical sting—disparaging Droṇa as a mere ‘brāhmaṇa-claimer’—showing how battlefield rhetoric can weaponize social-religious identity to justify violence.
In the midst of the Kurukṣetra fighting, a warrior voice (reported by Sañjaya) boasts that since Droṇa has already been killed, the speaker will, by the same martial prowess, now kill the addressed opponent as well—escalating intimidation and resolve in combat.