तम् आधिरथिर् आक्रन्दं विज्ञाय शरणैषिणाम् ॥
मा भैष्टेति प्रतिश्रुत्य ययाव् अभिमुखो ऽर्जुनम् ॥
स भारतरथश्रेष्ठः सर्वभारतहर्षणः ॥
प्रादुश्चक्रे तद् आग्नेयम् अस्त्रम् अस्त्रविदां वरः ॥
तस्य दीप्तशरौघस्य दीप्तचापधरस्य च ॥
शरौघाञ् शरजालेन विदुधाव धनंजयः ॥
अस्त्रम् अस्त्रेण संवार्य प्राणदद् विसृजञ् शरान् ॥
tam ādhirathir ākrandaṃ vijñāya śaraṇaiṣiṇām ||
mā bhaiṣṭeti pratiśrutya yayāv abhimukho 'rjunam ||
sa bhāratarathaśreṣṭhaḥ sarvabhārataharṣaṇaḥ ||
prāduścakre tad āgneyam astram astravidāṃ varaḥ ||
tasya dīptaśaraughasya dīptacāpadharasya ca ||
śaraughāñ śarajālena vidudhāva dhanaṃjayaḥ ||
astram astreṇa saṃvārya prāṇadad visṛjañ śarān ||
The son of Adhiratha [Karna], recognizing that cry of those seeking refuge, and having called back in answer: 'Fear not!', moved to face Arjuna. He, the best of the chariot-warriors of the Bharatas, the delight of all the Bharatas, brought forth that fiery weapon — he, the foremost of the knowers of weapons. From him, whose streams of arrows blazed and who held a blazing bow, Dhananjaya scattered the streams of arrows with a net of arrows.
7fa9486a17a2 · प्रकाशित 19 जुल॰ 2026, 3:22:09 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Karna answers the cry of the dying: 'Fear not!' — and moves to face Arjuna. In this lies his true greatness: he places himself between the fleeing and their terror, shielding the weak with his own body. It is telling that in him, for all his fatal wrongness, the valor of a protector lives on. The verse teaches that even in the camp of unrighteousness there are men in whom the spirit of the true warrior lives — not to abandon one's own in distress; that to answer another's cry and stand between the dying and death is a high valor, whoever the one who answers may be; and that the tradition, in noting 'fear not!' upon Karna's lips, once again distinguishes a man's valor from the wrongness of his cause — his courage is genuine, though the banner under which he stands is not right.