Shloka 12
कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira
प्रतिज्ञां पालयिष्यामि हत्वैनं नरसत्तमम् | एतदर्थ मया खड्गो गृहीतो यदुनन्दन,“यदुनन्दन! इन नरश्रेष्ठका वध करके मैं अपनी प्रतिज्ञाका पालन करूँगा; इसीलिये मैंने यह खड्ग हाथमें लिया है
pratijñāṃ pālayiṣyāmi hatvainam narasattamam | etadarthaṃ mayā khaḍgo gṛhīto yadunandana ||
三阇耶说道：“我将以杀死这位人中最胜者来守住我的誓言。正为此事，噢，雅度族的欢喜者，我才执起此剑。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the binding force of a vowed word (pratijñā) in the epic’s moral universe: a warrior frames his intended act—taking up the sword to kill—as the fulfillment of duty and honor. It illustrates how dharma in the Mahābhārata often appears as competing obligations, where steadfastness to one’s pledge is treated as a serious ethical commitment even amid the brutality of war.
Sañjaya reports a combatant’s declaration to Kṛṣṇa (addressed as Yadunandana): he has drawn/held a sword with the explicit intention of killing a particular ‘foremost man’ in order to keep a prior vow. The statement functions as a battlefield resolve and a justification for imminent violence.