Gita 01.04 – Our inner frame of reference shapes our outer focus of reference

 

Audio Link 2: Gita 01.04 – Our inner frame of reference shapes our outer focus of reference

 

BG 1.04

atra śūrā maheṣv-āsā

bhīmārjuna-samā yudhi

yuyudhāno virāṭaś ca

drupadaś ca mahā-rathaḥ

 

Word for Word: 

atra — here; śūrāḥ — heroes; mahā-iṣu-āsāḥ — mighty bowmen; bhīma-arjuna — to Bhīma and Arjuna; samāḥ — equal; yudhi — in the fight; yuyudhānaḥ — Yuyudhāna; virāṭaḥ — Virāṭa; ca — also; drupadaḥ — Drupada; ca — also; mahā-rathaḥ — great fighter.

 

Translation: 

Here in this army are many heroic bowmen equal in fighting to Bhīma and Arjuna: great fighters like Yuyudhāna, Virāṭa and Drupada.

 

Duryodhana here describes what he has seen on the opposite side. The second verse describes how he approached Dronacharya, and in the third verse, Duryodhana describes how Dhristadyumna has arranged the army very expertly, formidably and intelligently – dhimata.

 

After giving that general assessment in the third verse, he goes on to make specific statements about different warriors. Atrasura – here there are sura or heroes; maheshvasaha – they are extremely powerful bow fighters. In the Kurukshetra war, bows and arrows were the primary method of fighting. Even Duryodhana and Bhima, before their final fight on the 18th day, they fought several occasions and most of those occasions they fought with bows and arrows. Maheshvasaha – these are great archers; javelins, mace, and other sort of weapons were also used but primarily it was bows and arrows. Hence, great archers is generic reference to great warriors.

 

Bhima arjuna sama yudhi – there are warriors who are like Bhima and Arjuna. Duryodhana knows that the greatest obstacles for him on the opposite side are these two Pandavas, Bhima and Arjuna. Although Yudhishthira is the eldest, his military might does not match that of his two younger brothers. If we look at the subsequent war that took place, relatively speaking, Arjuna fought much more destructively and actually fell more maharathas than Bhima. Bhima, of course, killed the hundred Kauravas. That was a vow he had taken and the other Pandava warriors helped him by not killing the Kaurava brothers even when they came in front of them. It is not that Bhima is weaker; Bhima is also a formidable warrior. After the time at Drona’s Gurukul, when there was the exhibition of all the military skills learnt, it is Arjuna who is fearless. Arjuna was the one who went to heaven and acquired celestial weapons and therefore Arjuna was the most formidable. However, in Duryodhana’s mind, Bhima is formidable. He is the person who has vowed to kill Duryodhana and he knows that Bhima is extremely furious and he has to be overcome. Bhima is also elder. Therefore, he says bhima arjuna sama yudhi.

He refers to Bhima and then he says there are many warriors equal to them. At one level, there was no one equal to Arjuna and there was no one equal to Bhima in terms of mace fighting except for Duryodhana himself. Even when there was no one actually equal, why is he saying there are many warriors like them? This is in actuality not an absolute comparison. It is a relative comparison. That means they are of the same caliber. Arjuna was the greatest among great archers but still despite his distinctiveness, we could say still there were many great warriors. In that category of great warriors, are also other warriors. Bhima, Arjuna may be the greatest among the great, but overall they all belong to the category of great warriors. Therefore, bhima arjuna sama yudhi – they are all in that category itself. 

 

Yudhana here refers to Satyaki. In the Vedic times, the warriors had different names. Arjuna himself has ten names, which he recites just before the Virata war, when Bhuminjay, the son of Virata asks him how he can know that he is actually Arjuna. Then he recites his ten names and then Bhuminjay realises that he is in fact Arjuna and bows down to him. In the same way, here Yudhana is an alternative name for Satyaki.

 

Satyaki was a formidable warrior. He actually fought with Duryodhana in one of the days, checked him, and almost defeated him but he did not kill him because Satyaki was conscious of Bhima’s vow. The greatest feat that Satyaki did was on the 14th day. After Arjuna had penetrated into the Kaurava ranks in order to reach Jayadratha and avenge Abhimanyu’s death, Satyaki was requested by Yudhishthira, to follow him and assist him, which he did. 

 

Satyaki was also a student in Drona’s academy. He learnt a lot over there but subsequently whenever Arjuna and Satyaki would meet, Satyaki also gained further knowledge from Arjuna. Therefore, he considered himself a student of Arjuna also and he felt obliged to help, now that his teacher was facing a grave responsibility and challenge.

 

Arjuna, with extraordinary power, single-handedly broke through the Kaurava’s military formations and reached very close to Jayadratha. The kind of penetration Arjuna had done, Satyaki followed and broke through the Kaurava rank similarly. With his stupendous effort, he assisted Arjuna because various warriors were attacking Arjuna on all sides. Satyaki helped him by challenging some of those warriors who were attacking Arjuna and he held them off, so that Arjuna could keep progressing ahead. On that day, he played a stupendous role in assisting Arjuna. He had a very fierce fight with Bhurishrava in which he was knocked down, and was kicked, dragged and humiliated. However, he got up and killed Bhurishrava and then he also killed Bhurishrava’s father, Somadatta. On that same day Bhima also killed Somadatta’s father, Bahalika.

 

This was Satyaki’s greatest accomplishment that he assisted his teacher Arjuna in fighting against the Kaurava hordes in order for him to reach Jayadratha and thereby fulfil his vow. 

 

Apart from Yudhana, Virata was also a commander of one akshahuni. The chief commander of the Pandava army was Dhrishtadyumna and under him there were seven akshahuni. Each akshahuni had a commander and Virata was one commander. Drupada was also one commander, so was Shikandi, Bhima and many others. Arjuna was not officially a commander but he was free to go wherever he wanted to and fight and he worked directly with Dhrishtadyumna to plan and execute different strategies. In one sense, Arjuna was the unofficial commander of the whole army, and officially, it was Dhrishtadyumna.

 

Virata, himself was a very strong warrior and he had also brought a huge army to fight on the side of the Pandavas. He fought heroically on many occasions. Here, Virata and Drupada are both elders, relatively speaking. They are both a generation above the Pandavas and both of them fought heroically.

 

They fought many battles before the Kurukshetra war and this battle turned out to be their last. They fought tirelessly and it was on the 15th day that both of them were killed by Drona, in quick succession. They fought fiercely on that day and Drona was in a furious mood because of being repeatedly goaded by Duryodhana with accusations that he was not fighting wholeheartedly because he was partial to the Pandavas.

 

As a result, Drona being fed up with these accusations, put his full fury into the fight. At that time, Drupada and Virata were fighting with him and they wounded him. That increased Drona’s anger even further and in that fury; Drona then countered the attack. He killed both of them but till then they fought fiercely in the battle because they were such maharathas. Hence, Duryodhana remembers them and he says that they are also like Bhima and Arjuna. In the next verse, he will continue the description of who are all the great warriors on the side of the Pandavas. This description will continue for two more verses and then after that he will switch to description of the warriors on his own side.

 

Therefore, in this verse he talks about five warriors. He names three of them and he compares these three to two other warriors. When information is known, repetition is done to convey or to emphasize a particular point. Here Duryodhana wants to emphasize the gravity of the situation. Drona knows who are all present there and what their skills are. However, Duryodhana is repeating it so that Drona will fight seriously. He is not going to do an exhaustive listing of all the warriors but he lists Drupada indirectly by talking about his son in the previous verse. Again, he refers to Drupada here with the same intention – that the stimulation of the memory of Drona’s old enmity with Drupada will drive out whatever residual affection might be there in Drona’s heart for the opponents. Then this will kindle Drona to fight fiercely and thereby that would assure his victory.

 

Duryodhana’s enumeration of the military forces will continue in the next verse.