Motif
spared defeated enemy shamed rather than killed
spared_defeated_enemy_shamed_rather_than_killed
A motif of the Sacred Combat and Ritual Warfare family, within the sub-family Aftermath and Spoils. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
hindu
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Maha-bharata BOOK IX / DRONA-BADHA / BOOK X / KARNA-BADHA; lines 5516-5652 confidence: high
Yudhishthir is described as "Carless, steedless, void of armour" and fleeing; Karna calls him a "timid man of penance" and says, "blood of thine I will not shed."
Karna defeats Yudhishthir but declares he will not shed his blood and sends him away with insults.
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