संजय उवाच
स कर्णं कर्णिना कर्णे पुनर् विव्याध फाल्गुनिः ॥
शरैः पञ्चाशता चैनम् अविध्यत् कोपयन् भृशम् ॥
प्रतिविव्याध राधेयस् तावद्भिर् अथ तं पुनः ॥
स तैर् आचितसर्वाङ्गो बह्व् अशोभत भारत ॥
कर्णं चाप्य् अकरोत् क्रुद्धो रुधिरोत्पीडवाहिनम् ॥
कर्णो ऽपि विबभौ शूरः शरैश् चित्रो ऽसृगाप्लुतः ॥
ताव् उभौ शरचित्राङ्गौ रुधिरेण समुक्षितौ ॥
बभूवतुर् महात्मानौ पुष्पिताव् इव किंशुकौ ॥
saṃjaya uvāca
sa karṇaṃ karṇinā karṇe punar vivyādha phālguniḥ ||
śaraiḥ pañcāśatā cainam avidhyat kopayan bhṛśam ||
prativivyādha rādheyas tāvadbhir atha taṃ punaḥ ||
sa tair ācitasarvāṅgo bahv aśobhata bhārata ||
karṇaṃ cāpy akarot kruddho rudhirotpīḍavāhinam ||
karṇo 'pi vibabhau śūraḥ śaraiś citro 'sṛgāplutaḥ ||
tāv ubhau śaracitrāṅgau rudhireṇa samukṣitau ||
babhūvatur mahātmānau puṣpitāv iva kiṃśukau ||
He, the son of Phalguna, once more wounded Karna in the ear with the karni arrow, and pierced him with fifty arrows, greatly inflaming him. Radheya struck back with just as many; and he [Abhimanyu], all studded with them, shone greatly, O Bharata. And in his wrath he made Karna stream with blood; Karna too, the warrior, shone, studded with arrows and drenched in blood. Those two, great of soul, with bodies studded with arrows and bathed in blood, became like blossoming kimshuka trees.
5991441773bc · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:04 PM UTC
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Both the youth and Karna stand bathed in blood, "like blossoming kimshuka trees": the horror of mutual destruction is clothed in the image of crimson bloom. Thus the tradition's two-sided vision reveals itself: wounds and blood are terrible, yet within them a stern beauty is glimpsed. It is telling that both the youth and the fiercest of foes are likened equally — both "great of soul," both beautiful in their wounding. The verse teaches that in an honest battle of equals, valor shines on both sides; that the tradition does not divide beauty into "ours" and "the enemy's," seeing the blossoming kimshuka in both Abhimanyu and Karna alike; and that the very blood in which both are clothed turns to a crimson hue — a sorrowful reminder that behind the beauty of battle stands the shared suffering of the living, who shed blood and have their own blood shed.