को ह्य् अर्जुनं रणे योद्धुं त्वद् अन्यः पार्थिवो ऽर्हति ॥
यस्य दिव्यानि कर्माणि प्रवदन्ति मनीषिणः ॥
अमानुषश् च संग्रामस् त्र्यम्बकेन च धीमतः ॥
तस्माच् चैव वरः प्राप्तो दुष्प्रापश् चाकृतात्मभिः ॥
ko hy arjunaṃ raṇe yoddhuṃ tvad anyaḥ pārthivo 'rhati ||
yasya divyāni karmāṇi pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ ||
amānuṣaś ca saṃgrāmas tryambakena ca dhīmataḥ ||
tasmāc caiva varaḥ prāpto duṣprāpaś cākṛtātmabhiḥ ||
[Karna:] For who, besides you, is any other king worthy to fight Arjuna in battle — he whose feats the wise proclaim divine? And superhuman was the combat of the wise [Arjuna] with Tryambaka [Shiva], and from him [Shiva] he obtained a boon hard to attain for those of imperfect self.
b99bd3ed1f16 · published Jul 19, 2026, 2:46:26 PM UTC
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Karna himself recounts Arjuna's greatness — divine deeds, a duel with Shiva, a granted weapon — and thereby confirms what he has been saying all along: there is no equal to him but the fallen Bhishma. It is telling that he speaks of a boon "unattainable for those of imperfect self": the highest weapons and the grace of the gods are given not to strength but to purity; Arjuna won them through effort and devotion, not through valor alone. The verse teaches that true power is born of the union of strength and a disciplined soul; that grace from above descends upon the purified, not upon the proud; and that Karna, in honoring Arjuna's gifts, unwittingly points to why his own cause is doomed — it lacks the very purity on which true strength rests.