संजय उवाच
स तथा विरथः कर्णः पुनर् भीमेन निर्जितः ॥
रथम् अन्यं समास्थाय सद्यो विव्याध पाण्डवम् ॥
महागजाव् इवासाद्य विषाणाग्रैः परस्परम् ॥
शरैः पूर्णायतोत्सृष्टैर् अन्योन्यम् अभिजघ्नतुः ॥
अथ कर्णः शरव्रातैर् भीमं बलवद् अर्दयत् ॥
ननाद बलवन् नादं पुनर् विव्याध चोरसि ॥
saṃjaya uvāca
sa tathā virathaḥ karṇaḥ punar bhīmena nirjitaḥ ||
ratham anyaṃ samāsthāya sadyo vivyādha pāṇḍavam ||
mahāgajāv ivāsādya viṣāṇāgraiḥ parasparam ||
śaraiḥ pūrṇāyatotsṛṣṭair anyonyam abhijaghnatuḥ ||
atha karṇaḥ śaravrātair bhīmaṃ balavad ardayat ||
nanāda balavan nādaṃ punar vivyādha corasi ||
Karna, thus stripped of his chariot, again conquered by Bhima, mounting another chariot, at once pierced the Pandava. Like two great elephants meeting, striking each other with the points of their tusks, they struck one another with arrows loosed at full draw. Then Karna mightily tormented Bhima with showers of arrows, roared a mighty roar, and again pierced him in the chest.
c53c9ce7c638 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:17:34 PM UTC
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Twice brought low, Karna mounts a chariot once more and fights on — a stubbornness that does not know when it merely prolongs disaster. It is telling that the two men are again likened to elephants, tusk against tusk: the longer an equal enmity lasts, the deeper it sinks into the bestial. The verse teaches that endurance alone is no virtue: persistence in the wrong only extends the bloodshed, and what matters is not only how firmly one stands, but for what.