What was the name of the arrow Arjuna used to kill Karna?

What was the name of the arrow Arjuna used to kill Karna? The answer is Anjalika.

In the Mahabharata’s climactic duel, Arjuna and Karna fought on the seventeenth day of the Kurukshetra War. Karna’s chariot wheel became trapped in the ground, and he asked Arjuna to pause while he freed it. Krishna reminded Arjuna that Karna had taken part in Abhimanyu’s unfair killing, so Arjuna continued the attack.

Arjuna then released the Anjalikastra, a divine arrow associated with Indra, and used it to behead Karna. “Anjalika” is a shortened form commonly used for the weapon’s name; “Anjalikastra” is the fuller Sanskrit-derived form.

A common mix-up is Vasavi Shakti, the one-use weapon Karna received from Indra. Karna used that weapon earlier to kill Ghatotkacha, not Arjuna. The Pashupatastra and Brahmastra are also powerful celestial weapons, but they were not the arrow used to kill Karna.