Chapter 1 of 18
अर्जुनविषादयोग Arjuna Viṣāda Yoga Arjuna's Despair
47 verses
Arjuna's nerve fails on the field, and the question that opens the book is not a spiritual one but a practical one he cannot answer.
The first line of the Bhagavad Gita names the place twice: the field of dharma, the field of the Kurus. What follows happens on a battlefield and inside an argument about right action at the same time, and the book never lets go of either.
Most of the chapter is names — nine verses of warriors on both sides, then seven of conches and drums. It is tempting to skim, and worth not doing: the catalogue is what establishes that this is not an abstract war but specific people, several of whom are related to the man about to fight them.
Then Arjuna asks to be driven into the gap between the two armies so that he can see. He makes the request himself, Krishna complies without a word of warning, and from the middle of the field the enemy stops being a formation and becomes fathers, teachers, sons and friends — ten kinds of kin, in both armies.
What happens next is described with clinical precision: legs failing, dry mouth, trembling, the great bow slipping out of his hand. The Gita opens with the finest archer alive having a panic attack, and then spends sixteen verses watching him look for reasons. The chapter ends with him sitting down.
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय
dharma-kṣhetre kuru-kṣhetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāśhchaiva kimakurvata sañjaya
On the field of dharma, at Kurukshetra, gathered and eager to fight — my sons, and the sons of Pandu — what did they do, Sanjaya?
A blind king asks a question he already knows the answer to.
Dhritarashtra cannot see the field, so he asks the one person who can. And the first words of the Bhagavad Gita name the place twice: dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre — the field of dharma, the field of the Kurus.
The doubling is the whole book in miniature. What follows happens on a battlefield and in an argument about right action at the same time.
Word by worddhṛitarāśhtraḥ uvācha — Dhritarashtra said · dharma-kṣhetre — the land of dharma · kuru-kṣhetre — at Kurukshetra · samavetāḥ — having gathered · yuyutsavaḥ — desiring to fight · māmakāḥ — my sons · pāṇḍavāḥ — the sons of Pandu · cha — and · eva — certainly · kim — what · akurvata — did they do · sañjaya — Sanjay
Chapter 1 · Arjuna's Despair · ← → to move, d for depth
All 47 verses
Sanjaya said
- 1.2 दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं व्यूढं दुर्योधनस्तदा Duryodhana goes to his teacher
- 1.3 पश्यैतां पाण्डुपुत्राणामाचार्य महतीं चमूम् Arrayed by your own pupil
- 1.4 अत्र शूरा महेष्वासा भीमार्जुनसमा युधि Naming the other side
- 1.5 धृष्टकेतुश्चेकितानः काशिराजश्च वीर्यवान् The list continues
- 1.6 युधामन्युश्च विक्रान्त उत्तमौजाश्च वीर्यवान् Every one a great warrior
- 1.7 अस्माकं तु विशिष्टा ये तान्निबोध द्विजोत्तम But hear who is ours
- 1.8 भवान्भीष्मश्च कर्णश्च कृपश्च समितिञ्जयः His own commanders
- 1.9 अन्ये च बहवः शूरा मदर्थे त्यक्तजीविताः Ready to lay down their lives
- 1.10 अपर्याप्तं तदस्माकं बलं भीष्माभिरक्षितम् He counts, and gets it backwards
- 1.11 अयनेषु च सर्वेषु यथाभागमवस्थिताः Above all defend Bhishma
- 1.12 तस्य संजनयन्हर्षं कुरुवृद्धः पितामहः The grandsire blows his conch
- 1.13 ततः शङ्खाश्च भेर्यश्च पणवानकगोमुखाः And then noise
- 1.14 ततः श्वेतैर्हयैर्युक्ते महति स्यन्दने स्थितौ The chariot with white horses
- 1.15 पाञ्चजन्यं हृषीकेशो देवदत्तं धनंजयः Panchajanya and Devadatta
- 1.16 अनन्तविजयं राजा कुन्तीपुत्रो युधिष्ठिरः The brothers' conches
- 1.17 काश्यश्च परमेष्वासः शिखण्डी च महारथः And the rest of them
- 1.18 द्रुपदो द्रौपदेयाश्च सर्वशः पृथिवीपते Each his own
- 1.19 स घोषो धार्तराष्ट्राणां हृदयानि व्यदारयत् It tore at their hearts
- 1.20 अथ व्यवस्थितान् दृष्ट्वा धार्तराष्ट्रान्कपिध्वजः Arjuna raises his bow
Arjuna said
Sanjaya said
Arjuna said
- 1.28 कृपया परयाऽऽविष्टो विषीदन्निदमब्रवीत् My limbs give way
- 1.29 सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति Trembling, hair on end
- 1.30 गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तात्त्वक्चैव परिदह्यते The bow slips from his hand
- 1.31 निमित्तानि च पश्यामि विपरीतानि केशव I foresee nothing good
- 1.32 न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च He gives up the point of it
- 1.33 येषामर्थे काङ्क्षितं नो राज्यं भोगाः सुखानि च The ones we wanted it for
- 1.34 आचार्याः पितरः पुत्रास्तथैव च पितामहाः The list of kin again
- 1.35 एतान्न हन्तुमिच्छामि घ्नतोऽपि मधुसूदन Not even for the three worlds
- 1.36 निहत्य धार्तराष्ट्रान्नः का प्रीतिः स्याज्जनार्दन Only guilt would come
- 1.37 तस्मान्नार्हा वयं हन्तुं धार्तराष्ट्रान्स्वबान्धवान् How could we be happy
- 1.38 यद्यप्येते न पश्यन्ति लोभोपहतचेतसः They cannot see it
- 1.39 कथं न ज्ञेयमस्माभिः पापादस्मान्निवर्तितुम् How should we, who can?
- 1.40 कुलक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्माः सनातनाः Destroy a family and tradition goes
- 1.41 अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः Then the lineage is confused
- 1.42 सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च The ancestors fall
- 1.43 दोषैरेतैः कुलघ्नानां वर्णसङ्करकारकैः The enduring duties undone
- 1.44 उत्सन्नकुलधर्माणां मनुष्याणां जनार्दन Dwelling in hell, unending
- 1.45 अहो बत महत्पापं कर्तुं व्यवसिता वयम् We have resolved on a great wrong
- 1.46 यदि मामप्रतीकारमशस्त्रं शस्त्रपाणयः Better that they kill me
Where this sits
Chapter 1 against the whole of it: who is speaking, verse by verse, and how much of the book this chapter is.
A blind king asks a question he already knows the answer to. Dhritarashtra cannot see the field, so he asks the one person who can — and this is the only verse in all seven hundred that he speaks. Everything after it is somebody else's voice.
Notice what he calls the place. Dharma-kshetra, kuru-kshetra — the field of what is right, and the field of the Kurus, his own family. The same ground, named twice. He is asking about a battle and about a moral situation in the same breath, and cannot separate them. Neither can we, which is why the book exists.