कौमारे यानि चाप्य् आसन्न् अप्रियाणि विशां पते ॥
पूर्ववृत्तानि चाप्य् एनं रूक्षाण्य् अश्रावयद् भृशम् ॥
अथैनं तत्र संलीनम् अस्पृशद् धनुषा पुनः ॥
प्रहसंश् च पुनर् वाक्यं भीमम् आह वृषस् तदा ॥
योद्धव्यम् आविशान्यत्र न योद्धव्यं तु मादृशैः ॥
मादृशैर् युध्यमानानाम् एतच् चान्यच् च विद्यते ॥
गच्छ वा यत्र तौ कृष्णौ तौ त्वा रक्षिष्यतो रणे ॥
गृहं वा गच्छ कौन्तेय किं ते युद्धेन बालक ॥
kaumāre yāni cāpy āsann apriyāṇi viśāṃ pate ||
pūrvavṛttāni cāpy enaṃ rūkṣāṇy aśrāvayad bhṛśam ||
athainaṃ tatra saṃlīnam aspṛśad dhanuṣā punaḥ ||
prahasaṃś ca punar vākyaṃ bhīmam āha vṛṣas tadā ||
yoddhavyam āviśānyatra na yoddhavyaṃ tu mādṛśaiḥ ||
mādṛśair yudhyamānānām etac cānyac ca vidyate ||
gaccha vā yatra tau kṛṣṇau tau tvā rakṣiṣyato raṇe ||
gṛhaṃ vā gaccha kaunteya kiṃ te yuddhena bālaka ||
And whatever unpleasant things there had been in [his] boyhood, O lord of the peoples, and things that had happened to him before — [Karna] harshly recounted to him at length. Then, touching him again with the bow — him, there, concealed — and, laughing, Vrisha spoke again to Bhima: 'Go seek battle elsewhere; do not fight with those like me — for those who fight with the likes of me, this and other things befall. Go, or, where those two Krishnas [are] — they will protect you in the battle; or go home, son of Kunti — what have you to do with battle, child?'
7e151b0591a3 · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:25:13 PM UTC
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Karna finishes off his foe not with weapons but with memory — reproaching Bhima with old grievances from his boyhood: cruel speech draws on the past to wound more surely. 'Flee to the protection of Krishna, or go home' — a jeer at one who lacks a weapon, not one who lacks courage. It is telling that the mocker himself calls down the reckoning to come. The verse teaches that humiliating a defeated man with words is a baseness surpassing any wound from an arrow; and one who, in the hour of triumph, indulges in derision sows the seed of his own ruin.