1.35 Not even for the three worlds Arjuna speaks
एतान्न हन्तुमिच्छामि घ्नतोऽपि मधुसूदन
अपि त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्य हेतोः किं नु महीकृते
etān na hantum ichchhāmi ghnato ’pi madhusūdana
api trailokya-rājyasya hetoḥ kiṁ nu mahī-kṛite
I do not wish to kill them, Krishna, even if they kill me — not for dominion over the three worlds, let alone for the earth.
Explanation
Not even if they kill me.
Not for dominion over the three worlds, let alone for the earth.
The escalation is total, and it is where his position stops being tactical. He is no longer weighing this war against a better one; he has ruled out every possible payment for the act.
Word by word
- etān
- these
- na
- not
- hantum
- to slay
- ichchhāmi
- I wish
- ghnataḥ
- killed
- api
- even though
- madhusūdana
- Shree Krishna, killer of the demon Madhu
- api
- even though
- trai-lokya-rājyasya
- dominion over three worlds
- hetoḥ
- for the sake of
- kim nu
- what to speak of
- mahī-kṛite
- for the earth
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