अर्जुनः प्रतिजानीते भीमस्य प्रियकाम्यया ॥
कर्णं कर्णानुगांश् चैव रणे हन्तास्मि पत्रिभिः ॥
ये चान्ये प्रतियोत्स्यन्ति बुद्धिमोहेन मां नृपाः ॥
तांश् च सर्वाञ् शितैर् बाणैर् नेतास्मि यमसादनम् ॥
चलेद् धि हिमवान् स्थानान् निष्प्रभः स्याद् दिवाकरः ॥
शैत्यं सोमात् प्रणश्येत मत्सत्यं विचलेद् यदि ॥
न प्रदास्यति चेद् राज्यम् इतो वर्षे चतुर्दशे ॥
दुर्योधनो हि सत्कृत्य सत्यम् एतद् भविष्यति ॥
arjunaḥ pratijānīte bhīmasya priyakāmyayā ||
karṇaṃ karṇānugāṃś caiva raṇe hantāsmi patribhiḥ ||
ye cānye pratiyotsyanti buddhimohena māṃ nṛpāḥ ||
tāṃś ca sarvāñ śitair bāṇair netāsmi yamasādanam ||
caled dhi himavān sthānān niṣprabhaḥ syād divākaraḥ ||
śaityaṃ somāt praṇaśyeta matsatyaṃ vicaled yadi ||
na pradāsyati ced rājyam ito varṣe caturdaśe ||
duryodhano hi satkṛtya satyam etad bhaviṣyati ||
Arjuna vows, wishing to please Bhima: 'Karna and Karna's followers I will slay in battle with feathered arrows. And those other kings who, in delusion of mind, will fight against me, all of them I will lead with sharp arrows to the abode of Yama. Sooner will Himavan move from its place, sooner will the sun lose its splendor and the moon its coolness, than my truth will waver. This will come to pass if Duryodhana does not give back the kingdom with honor in the fourteenth year from now — such will be my truth.'
8f91d2e018e1 · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:12:36 PM UTC
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Arjuna seals his vow with the greatest of oaths: sooner will Himavan, the sun, and the moon transgress their own law than his word prove false. Thus the truth of the righteous is made equal to the immutability of the cosmos — for fidelity to one's word is the same universal law that holds up the mountains and the luminaries. The condition is significant: retribution will come only 'if he does not give back the kingdom' — even at the moment of the oath, the door to peace remains open, and the punishment is made contingent on the persistence of the guilty party's obstinacy. The verse teaches that the word of the righteous is as firm as the foundations of the world; that the just man does not thirst for blood but demands truth, leaving evil a path to correction; and that the coming battle will be not vengeance but the fulfillment of a vow which the enemy himself can still avert through repentance.