विमुखीकृत्य कर्णं तु सौभद्रः कङ्कपत्रिभिः ॥
अन्यान् अपि महेष्वासांस् तूर्णम् एवाभिदुद्रुवे ॥
ततस् तद् विततं जालं हस्त्यश्वरथपत्तिमत् ॥
झषः क्रुद्ध इवाभिन्दद् अभिमन्युर् महायशाः ॥
कर्णस् तु बहुभिर् बाणैर् अर्द्यमानो ऽभिमन्युना ॥
अपायाज् जवनैर् अश्वैस् ततो ऽनीकम् अभिद्यत ॥
vimukhīkṛtya karṇaṃ tu saubhadraḥ kaṅkapatribhiḥ ||
anyān api maheṣvāsāṃs tūrṇam evābhidudruve ||
tatas tad vitataṃ jālaṃ hastyaśvarathapattimat ||
jhaṣaḥ kruddha ivābhindad abhimanyur mahāyaśāḥ ||
karṇas tu bahubhir bāṇair ardyamāno 'bhimanyunā ||
apāyāj javanair aśvais tato 'nīkam abhidyata ||
Having turned Karna back with arrows feathered with heron plumes, the son of Subhadra swiftly attacked other great bowmen as well. Then that spread-out net of elephants, horses, chariots and foot-soldiers the greatly renowned Abhimanyu tore through, like an enraged great fish [tearing a net]. But Karna, hard-pressed by Abhimanyu's many arrows, withdrew on swift horses; and then the array broke apart.
5fff0aa09926 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:22:09 PM UTC
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The boy tears through the enemy's dense array 'like an enraged fish -- a net': the image reveals that even a finely woven web of multitudes gives way before a single force straining to break free. Karna himself, most fearsome, is forced to withdraw -- and with his flight the whole array collapses. It is telling that a single boy puts to flight the foremost of bowmen. The verse teaches that no barrier of multitudes, however skillfully woven, can hold back one in whom the will to break through is unassailable, like a fish tearing a net; that the flight of the one strongest man draws after it the collapse of the whole formation; and that valor, like an elemental force, is not entangled in nets of calculation but tears straight through them, for a living surge is stronger than any cunningly devised barrier.