A blind king asks what happened

Where we are

Welcome. The Bhagavad Gita sits inside the Mahābhārata, India's great epic about a royal family that tears itself apart. On one side are the hundred Kaurava brothers, led by Duryodhana, sons of the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra; on the other, the five Pāṇḍava brothers, sons of his late brother Pāṇḍu, among them the archer Arjuna. After years of rivalry, a rigged game of dice, exile and failed peace talks, both armies have marched to the plain of Kurukshetra. But the Gita opens far from the field, in the palace, where the old king, who cannot see, asks his minister and charioteer Sañjaya to tell him what is happening. The sage Vyāsa has given Sañjaya divine sight, so he can watch the whole battlefield from where he sits.

The verses

1. 1.1

   dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca

   Sañjaya, my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu have come together at Kurukshetra, the field of dharma, spoiling for a fight. Tell me: what did they do?

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.1

   धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।
   मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ॥ १ ॥

   dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
   māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva kim akurvata saṃjaya

   Say it

   dhur-muh-kshay-tray koo-roo-kshay-tray suh-muh-vay-taa yoo-yoot-suh-vuh-huh
   maa-muh-kaah paan-duh-vaash chai-vuh kim uh-koor-vuh-tuh sun-juh-yuh

   Word by word

   dharma-kṣetre

   on the field of dharma

   kuru-kṣetre

   at Kurukshetra, the field of the Kurus

   samavetāḥ

   gathered together

   yuyutsavaḥ

   eager to fight

   māmakāḥ

   my people (my sons)

   pāṇḍavāḥ

   the sons of Pāṇḍu

   ca eva

   and also

   kim akurvata

   what did they do?

   saṃjaya

   O Sañjaya

2. 1.2

   saṃjaya uvāca

   Sañjaya answered: When Duryodhana saw the Pāṇḍava army lined up for battle, he went straight over to his teacher, Droṇa, and the prince began to speak.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.2

   दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं व्यूढं दुर्योधनस्तदा ।
   आचार्यमुपसङ्गम्य राजा वचनमब्रवीत् ॥ २ ॥

   dṛṣṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkaṃ vyūḍhaṃ duryodhanas tadā
   ācāryam upasaṃgamya rājā vacanam abravīt

   Say it

   drish-tvaa too paan-duh-vaa-nee-kum vyoo-dhum door-yo-dhuh-nus tuh-daa
   aa-chaar-yum oo-puh-sun-gum-yuh raa-jaa vuh-chuh-num ub-ruh-veet

   Word by word

   dṛṣṭvā

   having seen

   tu

   then, but

   pāṇḍava-anīkam

   the Pāṇḍava army

   vyūḍham

   drawn up in battle formation

   duryodhanaḥ

   Duryodhana

   tadā

   at that moment

   ācāryam

   the teacher (Droṇa)

   upasaṃgamya

   going up to

   rājā

   the king (Duryodhana)

   vacanam abravīt

   spoke these words

3. 1.3

   Teacher, look at this enormous army of Pāṇḍu's sons. It has been drawn up for battle by Drupada's son, that clever student of yours.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.3

   पश्यैतां पाण्डुपुत्राणामाचार्य महतीं चमूम् ।
   व्यूढां द्रुपदपुत्रेण तव शिष्येण धीमता ॥ ३ ॥

   paśyaitāṃ pāṇḍuputrāṇām ācārya mahatīṃ camūm
   vyūḍhāṃ drupadaputreṇa tava śiṣyeṇa dhīmatā

   Say it

   push-yai-taam paan-doo-poot-raa-naam aa-chaar-yuh muh-huh-teem chuh-moom
   vyoo-dhaam droo-puh-duh-poot-ray-nuh tuh-vuh shish-yay-nuh dhee-muh-taa

   Word by word

   paśya

   look at

   etām

   this

   pāṇḍu-putrāṇām

   of the sons of Pāṇḍu

   ācārya

   O teacher

   mahatīm camūm

   huge army

   vyūḍhām

   arranged for battle

   drupada-putreṇa

   by Drupada's son (Dhṛṣṭadyumna)

   tava śiṣyeṇa

   your own student

   dhīmatā

   clever, gifted

4. 1.4

   Over there are heroes and mighty archers, every bit the equal of Bhīma and Arjuna in battle: Yuyudhāna, Virāṭa, and Drupada, a great chariot-warrior. (Duryodhana's list carries on through the next two verses.)

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.4

   अत्र शूरा महेष्वासा भीमार्जुनसमा युधि ।
   युयुधानो विराटश्च द्रुपदश्च महारथः ॥ ४ ॥

   atra śūrā maheṣvāsā bhīmārjunasamā yudhi
   yuyudhāno virāṭaś ca drupadaś ca mahārathaḥ

   Say it

   ut-ruh shoo-raa muh-haysh-vaa-saa bhee-maar-joo-nuh-suh-maa yoo-dhi
   yoo-yoo-dhaa-no vi-raa-tush chuh droo-puh-dush chuh muh-haa-ruh-thuh-huh

   Word by word

   atra

   here, in that army

   śūrāḥ

   heroes

   mahā-iṣvāsāḥ

   great archers, wielders of mighty bows

   bhīma-arjuna-samāḥ

   equal to Bhīma and Arjuna

   yudhi

   in battle

   yuyudhānaḥ

   Yuyudhāna (also called Sātyaki)

   virāṭaḥ

   King Virāṭa

   drupadaḥ

   King Drupada

   mahā-rathaḥ

   a great chariot-warrior

Context and commentary

The very first word of the Gita is dharma: duty, rightness, the order that holds things together. Kurukshetra was already holy ground, the “field of the Kurus”, where their ancestor King Kuru is said to have ploughed and performed rites. A popular modern observation is that the text opens with dharma and closes (18.78) with mama, “my”, as if the whole Gita were about “my dharma”. The king's wording is revealing too. He says māmakāḥ, “my people”, and then “Pāṇḍu's sons”, though all of them are his family. Traditional commentators hear anxiety and favouritism in this; some suggest he feared the holy ground itself might sway the outcome or soften his sons' resolve (interpretation). Duryodhana's speech has an edge as well. Droṇa taught archery to both sets of cousins, and the Pāṇḍava army is arranged by Dhṛṣṭadyumna, son of Droṇa's old friend turned enemy, King Drupada. The epic says Dhṛṣṭadyumna was born to kill Droṇa, and Droṇa taught him anyway, so “your clever student” is a pointed jab. Readers take the whole scene in different ways: Gandhi read the battlefield as an allegory for the struggle between good and bad impulses inside each person; Aurobindo insisted the war is real and that the teaching is about acting in the actual world; Śaṅkara's commentary passes quickly over Chapter 1 and begins its main work at 2.10, treating these verses as the setting for Arjuna's grief. One more detail: in the epic, Sañjaya gives this report after ten days of fighting, once the great elder Bhīṣma has fallen, so the Gita is told looking back.