वैशंपायन उवाच
ततः क्षिप्तम् इवात्मानं मत्वा पार्थो ऽभ्यभाषत ॥
कर्णं भ्रातृसमूहस्य मध्ये ऽचलम् इव स्थितम् ॥
अनाहूतोपसृप्तानाम् अनाहूतोपजल्पिनाम् ॥
ये लोकास् तान् हतः कर्ण मया त्वं प्रतिपत्स्यसे ॥
कर्ण उवाच
रङ्गो ऽयं सर्वसामान्यः किम् अत्र तव फल्गुन ॥
वीर्यश्रेष्ठाश् च राजन्या बलं धर्मो ऽनुवर्तते ॥
किं क्षेपैर् दुर्बलाश्वासैः शरैः कथय भारत ॥
गुरोः समक्षं यावत् ते हराम्य् अद्य शिरः शरैः ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
tataḥ kṣiptam ivātmānaṃ matvā pārtho 'bhyabhāṣata ||
karṇaṃ bhrātṛsamūhasya madhye 'calam iva sthitam ||
anāhūtopasṛptānām anāhūtopajalpinām ||
ye lokās tān hataḥ karṇa mayā tvaṃ pratipatsyase ||
karṇa uvāca
raṅgo 'yaṃ sarvasāmānyaḥ kim atra tava phalguna ||
vīryaśreṣṭhāś ca rājanyā balaṃ dharmo 'nuvartate ||
kiṃ kṣepair durbalāśvāsaiḥ śaraiḥ kathaya bhārata ||
guroḥ samakṣaṃ yāvat te harāmy adya śiraḥ śaraiḥ ||
"Then, feeling himself as though insulted, Partha said to Karna, who stood amid the crowd of brothers, unmoving as a mountain: 'Those worlds that belong to one who intrudes uninvited and prattles uninvited — those worlds you, slain by me, shall obtain, Karna.' Karna said: 'This arena is common to all; what claim have you here, Phalguna? Kings are those who excel in valor; dharma follows strength. Why reproaches, a feeble comfort? Speak with arrows, O Bharata, until, before our teacher's eyes, I sever your head with arrows this very day.'"
3fb97c392465 · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:53:32 PM UTC
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Here the pride of Arjuna and the dignity of Karna collide. It is telling that Arjuna, usually so restrained, is here haughty: wounded primacy has made even him harsh and contemptuous toward the "uninvited." It shows that even in the noble, the pride of primacy breeds unjust arrogance. Telling too are Karna's words, "this arena is common to all" — in them lies both truth (valor asks nothing of lineage) and a challenge to caste pride. Here it becomes clear that in this exchange sympathy inclines, almost against the reader's will, toward the one being spurned: Karna speaks as a man of dignity, demanding to be judged by valor rather than by birth. Thus the verse holds the balance: neither is Arjuna wholly right in his haughtiness, nor Karna wholly wrong in his defiance; and this very ambiguity makes their enmity deeply tragic.