कर्णस्य शरजालौघैर् भीमसेनस्य चोभयोः ॥
अग्निस्फुलिङ्गसंस्पर्शैर् अञ्जोगतिभिर् आहवे ॥
तैस् तैः कनकपुङ्खानां द्यौर् आसीत् संवृता व्रजैः ॥
स भीमं छादयन् बाणैः सूतपुत्रः पृथग्विधैः ॥
उपारोहद् अनादृत्य तस्य वीर्यं महात्मनः ॥
तयोर् विसृजतोस् तत्र शरजालानि मारिष ॥
वायुभूतान्य् अदृश्यन्त संसक्तानीतरेतरम् ॥
तस्मै कर्णः शितान् बाणान् कर्मारपरिमार्जितान् ॥
सुवर्णविकृतान् क्रुद्धः प्राहिणोद् वधकाङ्क्षया ॥
karṇasya śarajālaughair bhīmasenasya cobhayoḥ ||
agnisphuliṅgasaṃsparśair añjogatibhir āhave ||
tais taiḥ kanakapuṅkhānāṃ dyaur āsīt saṃvṛtā vrajaiḥ ||
sa bhīmaṃ chādayan bāṇaiḥ sūtaputraḥ pṛthagvidhaiḥ ||
upārohad anādṛtya tasya vīryaṃ mahātmanaḥ ||
tayor visṛjatos tatra śarajālāni māriṣa ||
vāyubhūtāny adṛśyanta saṃsaktānītaretaram ||
tasmai karṇaḥ śitān bāṇān karmāraparimārjitān ||
suvarṇavikṛtān kruddhaḥ prāhiṇod vadhakāṅkṣayā ||
With Karna's and Bhimasena's streams of arrow-nets, both, [with] the touch of fire-sparks, [with] straight flight, [in] battle [the sky was filled]. He, covering Bhima with arrows of various kinds, the son of the suta, advanced, disdaining the valor of that great-souled one. [Of] those two, hurling nets [of] arrows there, O honorable one, they were seen having become wind, locked together with each other. At him Karna, enraged, thirsting for [his] death, sent sharp arrows, smoothed by a smith, adorned with gold.
91db9c0156d2 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:25:13 PM UTC
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The arrows of both, colliding in the air, strike sparks like a flint and seem to become the wind itself: a clash of equals gives birth to a storm in the sky. It is telling that each one 'disdains' the other's valor, and so the fight tilts toward neither side. The verse teaches that equality of strength without a superiority of spirit only multiplies fury; the sparks of crossing arrows are beautiful, but this is the fire of mutual destruction, not light.