Arjuna lifts his bow

Where we are

Sañjaya is still describing the battlefield of Kurukshetra to the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra. In the previous reading, Krishna, Arjuna and the four other Pāṇḍava brothers each answered the Kaurava din by blowing their own named conch. Now the rest of the Pāṇḍava allies join in, the combined roar shakes the Kaurava side, and Arjuna, his monkey banner flying above him, raises his bow just as the fighting is about to begin.

The verses

1. 1.17

   The king of Kāśī, a superb archer, and Śikhaṇḍī, a great chariot-warrior, were there too, along with Dhṛṣṭadyumna, King Virāṭa and Sātyaki, who had never been beaten.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.17

   काश्यश्च परमेष्वासः शिखण्डी च महारथः ।
   धृष्टद्युम्नो विराटश्च सात्यकिश्चापराजितः ॥ १७ ॥

   kāśyaś ca parameṣvāsaḥ śikhaṇḍī ca mahārathaḥ
   dhṛṣṭadyumno virāṭaś ca sātyakiś cāparājitaḥ

   Say it

   kaash-yush-chuh puh-ruh-maysh-vaa-suh-huh shi-khun-dee chuh muh-haa-ruh-thuh-huh
   dhrish-tuh-dyoom-no vi-raa-tush-chuh saat-yuh-kish-chaa-puh-raa-ji-tuh-huh

   Word by word

   kāśyaḥ

   the king of Kāśī

   parama-iṣvāsaḥ

   a supreme archer

   śikhaṇḍī

   Śikhaṇḍī

   mahā-rathaḥ

   a great chariot-warrior

   dhṛṣṭadyumnaḥ

   Dhṛṣṭadyumna, commander of the Pāṇḍava army

   virāṭaḥ

   Virāṭa, king of the Matsyas

   sātyakiḥ

   Sātyaki

   ca aparājitaḥ

   and the unconquered one

2. 1.18

   Drupada, the sons of Draupadī and the mighty-armed son of Subhadrā all blew their conches as well, O lord of the earth, each sounding his own, from every side.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.18

   द्रुपदो द्रौपदेयाश्च सर्वशः पृथिवीपते ।
   सौभद्रश्च महाबाहुः शङ्खान्दध्मुः पृथक्पृथक् ॥ १८ ॥

   drupado draupadeyāś ca sarvaśaḥ pṛthivīpate
   saubhadraś ca mahābāhuḥ śaṅkhān dadhmuḥ pṛthak pṛthak

   Say it

   droo-puh-do drau-puh-day-yaash-chuh sur-vuh-shuh-huh pri-thi-vee-puh-tay
   sau-bhud-rush-chuh muh-haa-baa-hoo-huh shun-khaan dudh-moo-huh pri-thuk pri-thuk

   Word by word

   drupadaḥ

   Drupada, king of Pañcāla

   draupadeyāḥ ca

   and the sons of Draupadī

   sarvaśaḥ

   all together, on every side

   pṛthivī-pate

   O lord of the earth (addressing the king)

   saubhadraḥ

   the son of Subhadrā, Abhimanyu

   mahā-bāhuḥ

   the mighty-armed

   śaṅkhān dadhmuḥ

   blew their conches

   pṛthak pṛthak

   each separately, one by one

3. 1.19

   That deafening uproar tore through the hearts of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's sons, and it echoed across the sky and the earth.

   Text note: The BORI critical edition reads tumulo vyanunādayan, “resounding everywhere”; the traditional text shown here reads tumulo 'bhyanunādayan, “making it echo all around”. The sense is the same: the sound filled sky and earth.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.19

   स घोषो धार्तराष्ट्राणां हृदयानि व्यदारयत् ।
   नभश्च पृथिवीं चैव तुमुलोऽभ्यनुनादयन् ॥ १९ ॥

   sa ghoṣo dhārtarāṣṭrāṇāṃ hṛdayāni vyadārayat
   nabhaś ca pṛthivīṃ caiva tumulo 'bhyanunādayan

   Say it

   suh gho-sho dhaar-tuh-raash-traa-naam hri-duh-yaa-ni vyuh-daa-ruh-yut
   nuh-bhush-chuh pri-thi-veem chai-vuh too-moo-lo-bhyuh-noo-naa-duh-yun

   Word by word

   saḥ ghoṣaḥ

   that uproar

   dhārtarāṣṭrāṇām

   of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra

   hṛdayāni

   the hearts

   vyadārayat

   tore apart, split

   nabhaḥ ca pṛthivīm ca eva

   both the sky and the earth

   tumulaḥ

   tumultuous, deafening

   abhyanunādayan

   making them echo, resounding through

4. 1.20

   Then Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, whose banner carries the monkey Hanuman, looked at Dhṛtarāṣṭra's sons standing in their battle lines. Just as weapons were about to fly, he raised his bow. The sentence runs on into the next verse, where he turns to speak to Krishna.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.20

   अथ व्यवस्थितान्दृष्ट्वा धार्तराष्ट्रान् कपिध्वजः ।
   प्रवृत्ते शस्त्रसम्पाते धनुरुद्यम्य पाण्डवः ॥ २० ॥

   atha vyavasthitān dṛṣṭvā dhārtarāṣṭrān kapidhvajaḥ
   pravṛtte śastrasaṃpāte dhanur udyamya pāṇḍavaḥ

   Say it

   uh-thuh vyuh-vuh-sthi-taan drish-tvaa dhaar-tuh-raash-traan kuh-pi-dhvuh-juh-huh
   pruh-vrit-tay shus-truh-sum-paa-tay dhuh-noor ood-yum-yuh paan-duh-vuh-huh

   Word by word

   atha

   then, at that point

   vyavasthitān dṛṣṭvā

   seeing them drawn up in battle order

   dhārtarāṣṭrān

   the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra

   kapi-dhvajaḥ

   he whose banner bears the monkey (Hanuman), Arjuna

   pravṛtte

   when it was just beginning

   śastra-saṃpāte

   the clash of weapons

   dhanuḥ udyamya

   lifting his bow

   pāṇḍavaḥ

   the son of Pāṇḍu, Arjuna

Context and commentary

Almost every name in these verses carries a story. The king of Kāśī ruled the old city now called Varanasi. Śikhaṇḍī was born a princess of Pañcāla and is traditionally said to be the rebirth of Ambā, a woman who swore to bring about Bhīṣma's death; because Bhīṣma refuses to fight someone he regards as a woman, Śikhaṇḍī will later be the shield behind which Arjuna brings him down. Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Drupada's son and the Pāṇḍava commander, was said to be born from a sacrificial fire to kill Droṇa, the teacher who had humiliated his father. Virāṭa is the king in whose court the Pāṇḍavas lived in disguise during their final year of exile, and Sātyaki is a Yādava warrior who learned archery from Arjuna. The “son of Subhadrā” is Abhimanyu, Arjuna's teenage son and Krishna's nephew, who will die young in this war. Then come two telling details. Sañjaya tells the blind king, to his face, that the sound “tore the hearts” of his own sons. And Arjuna is called kapidhvaja, “monkey-bannered”: in a well-known Mahābhārata story, Hanuman promised to sit on Arjuna's banner and roar alongside the Pāṇḍavas. Many devotional commentators read 1.19 to mean that the Kauravas were shaken less by the volume than by their own uneasy conscience (interpretation). Śaṅkara says little about the opening chapter, saving his detailed comment for Krishna's teaching in Chapter 2; readers who take the battle as an inner one sometimes see the moment the bow is raised as the point where the mind is fully mobilised, just before the real question appears (interpretation).