मय्य् एव निपतत्य् एष सासिर् इत्य् ऊर्ध्वदृष्टयः ॥
विव्यधुस् तं महेष्वासाः समरे छिद्रदर्शिनः ॥
तस्य द्रोणो ऽच्छिनन् मुष्टौ खड्गं मणिमयत्सरुम् ॥
राधेयो निशितैर् बाणैर् व्यधमच् चर्म चोत्तमम् ॥
mayy eva nipataty eṣa sāsir ity ūrdhvadṛṣṭayaḥ ||
vivyadhus taṃ maheṣvāsāḥ samare chidradarśinaḥ ||
tasya droṇo 'cchinan muṣṭau khaḍgaṃ maṇimayatsarum ||
rādheyo niśitair bāṇair vyadhamac carma cottamam ||
"Any moment now he will fall upon me with his sword!" — thinking thus, with eyes turned upward, the great archers, watching for an opening, wounded him in the battle. Drona cut his sword, with its jeweled hilt, right at the grip; Radheya, with sharp arrows, shattered his excellent shield.
6b59df6771eb · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:04 PM UTC
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Now they take away even his last weapons: Drona cuts the sword in the boy's very grip, Karna shatters his shield. Step by step they thus disarm the child down to utter defenselessness — a methodical lawlessness. It is significant that here too the enemies strike "watching for an opening" — not in open combat, but hunting the vulnerability of the unarmed. The verse teaches that a crime once begun runs to its end — having disarmed him, they take away even what remains; that striking the unarmed while hunting for an opening is the utmost limit of dishonor; and that the tradition, showing how the sword is taken from the boy's very grip and his shield shattered, builds an image of unparalleled violation of dharma — for all the instruments of untruth have been arrayed against a single unarmed child, and in this compounded lawlessness drowns all the glory of his killers.