Sunday, October 7, 2018

BHAGVADGEETA CHAPTER 2 , STANZA 2

  1. BHAGVADGEETA CHAPTER 2 , STANZA 2
  2. संजय उवाच
  3. दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं व्यूढं दुर्योधनस्तदा |
  4.  आचार्यमुपसङ्गम्य  राजा वचनमब्रवीत  || 2 ||

Word by word translation :
 1  Sanjay Uvach :   said Sanjay 
2  दृष्ट्वा  (drustva) :  Having seen
3  तु (tu) :  and / aslo / thus 
4  पाण्डवानीकं (पाण्डव + अनिकम् ) ( Pandav + anikam ) : Army of Pandav
5  व्यूढं ( व्यूढं) : ( Military ) formed
6  दुर्योधनस्तदा | ( दुर्योधनः -  तदा ) ( दिर्योधनः + तदा ) : By Duryodhan then and there
7   आचार्यमुपसङ्गम्य  ( आचार्यं +उपसङ्गमयं ) ( Acharyam + Upsangmyam ) going near to the teaher
8  राजा ( Raja ) : The king / Prince ( Duryodhan )
9  वचनमब्रवीत  ( वचन + अब्रवीत ) (   vachanam abravit ) : uttered remark

Sentence form :  

Said sanjay : having seen the formation of his army as well as Pandav Army,  the Prince Duryodhan approached and bowed to the teacher ( द्रोणाचार्य ) and uttered (this) remark

Commentary :


1 With this stanza the Sanjay starts reporting of war proceedings to Dhrutarashtra .

2 The Prince Duryodhana has casted a glance at the Pandav arny formation . He  goes near and bows to his teacher ( द्रोणाचार्य )  and utters remark

3 The Bhishma was general ( सेनापति ) of the Kaurava Army. Dronacharya was the Guru of both Kaurava as well aw Pandva. . Tradition was to seek blessings of Guru before start of any thing important . Therefore the prince Duryodhan approached and bowed down to him. . Both Bhishna and Dionacharya had equal relations hip with both sides facing the war but chose to remain loyal to Kaurav . The famous quote " अर्थस्य पुरुषो दासः " was uttered while making this choice. ere next few stanzas are devoted to describing and naming the warriors of each side to the war. Similar situation was faced my many other Kings while choosing the side to support. The kshatriya ( क्षत्रिय ) were duty and tradition bound to join the war when invited to join.

4 Next few stanzas go on to describe who was on whose side.  It will be better to give commentary at the end of the group of such stanzas. 

Thursday, October 4, 2018

BHAGVADGEETA STANZA 1 , CHAPTER 1.

भगवद्गीता  :   अध्याय 1  

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे  समवेता युयुत्सवः  |
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय || 1||

Word by word translation :

1 धर्मक्षेत्रे :  (Dharmakshtreh ) In the field known as religious one 
2 कुरुक्षेत्रेः   (Kurukshetreh )  In the field known as of Kuru"s
3 समवेताः ( samvetah ) assembled 
4 युयुत्सवः (yuyutsavah )  Charged with war fever
5 मामकाः  ( mamkah )  my own ( family warriors )
6 पाण्डवाश्चैव ( पाण्डवाः च एव ) ( Pandvashaiv ) also of Pandu family warriors
7 किम् (kim ) : What 
8 अकुर्वत (akurvat ) : did they do 
9 संजय (sanjay ) : O Samjay (tell me)

In sentence form :   

Dhrutarashtra inquired with Sanjay as to what did the warriors of my family and thta of Pandu's family did when they were assembled in the battlefield known a Dharmakshtra as well as Kurukshtra.

Commentary :

1  Kurukshetra was originally a agricultural field being tilled by King KURU after whom his family came to be known as Kauravas. The God Indra conferred a boon upon him after long penance that anybody dying in the battlefield will go to heaven. Thus it started to be referred as Dharnakshetra too. Eventually it was abandoned as agricultural field and came to be used as battlefield believing that the death will take the warrior yo heaven. It is believed that the sage Parshuram got rid of Kshatriya's clan (vansh) twenty one times in the same very field. It continued as popular battlefield till modern times ( now known as Panipat ).

2  Dhrutrashtra the successor king of Hasinapur was born blind. The sage Vyasa offered him special vision so as to "See" for himself the war proceedings from his throne. He instinctively knew about eventual end of his family in war and refused the vision and asked it be given to the son of a slave Sanjay .

3 The Geeta opens with 1st and only stanza put in the mouth of Dhrutrashtra . There after Sanjay, Atjun and :Lord Krishna take over. 

4  All though it ts supposed to be war reporting it deals with philosophy. The proding and pushing do come occasionally from Lord Krishna like " Come get up and fight " occasionally but more as exception  than rule.