Gita 1-19

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मूलम्

स घोषो धार्तराष्ट्राणां हृदयानि व्यदारयत् |
नभश्च पृथिवीं चैव तुमुलो व्यनुनादयन् || १-१९ ||

Meaning

शब्दार्थाः (Word for word)

सः -- that; घोषः -- uproar; धार्तराष्ट्राणाम् -- of Dhritarashtra's men ; हृदयानि -- hearts; व्यदारयत् -- tore asunder ; नभः -- the sky; च -- and; पृथिवीम् -- the earth; च -- and; एव -- also, indeed; तुमुलः -- tumultuous; व्यनुनादयन् -- causing to resound;

अन्वयः (Word order)

सः तुमुलः घोषः नभः च पृथिवीं च एव व्यनुनादयन् धार्तराष्ट्राणां हृदयानि व्यदारयत् ।

अनुवादः (Translation)

That tumultuous uproar, causing the sky and also the earth to resound, tore asunder the hearts of Dhritarashtra's men.

Notes

Ramanuja does not have anything practical to note here. Some unimportant translation notes follow below --

  1. Ramanuja translates धार्तराष्ट्राणाम् as above. He comments that the sound by itself was so fearsome that Dhritarashtra's men thought "The Kuru army is surely going to be destroyed today itself".
  2. RSDji notes that the term धार्तराष्ट्राणाम् , if translated as above, seems to be lacking in courtesy since Dhritarashtra is right in front of Sanjaya; a much more appropriate term would have been तावकीनानाम् . [ Incidentally, the same doubt occurred to me, which is why I am noting this practically inconsequential note here ]. RSDji hence translates धार्तराष्ट्राणाम् as अन्यायेन धृतं राष्ट्रं यैः ते धार्तराष्ट्राः, तेषाम् i.e "of those who had held the kingdom unjustly".
  3. RSDji also repeats a previously mentioned theme. He points out that while the Pandava army, though smaller in number, did not have a fearful reaction to the Kaurava army's battle cry, the larger Kaurava army was terrified at the end of the Pandava army's battle cry. This, according to RSDji, is because adharma always causes fear and insecurity while dharma creates fearlessness. RSDji says that this should serve as a warning to spiritual aspirants and that they should never engage in unrighteous actions by mind, body or speech.

Practice Notes

(Balaji)

Since it is sometimes hard to determine dharma and even more difficult to be steadfast in its pursuit, at this stage, the best practice I could come up with is to remind myself of the consequences of unrighteous conduct before any action.

mani20 April 2009, 10:11

Wouldn't it be protocol to refer to a Maharaja in the third person? "तावकीनानाम" appears to lack maryāda from a dūta.

balaji20 April 2009, 21:44

I don't think so. Referring to a Maharaja as त्वम् seems to be very standard in Mahabharata. I have only seen भवान् added for respect. I have never seen a reference to the Maharaja in third person in the Mahabharata (to the extent I have read it) and in Bhagavatam

balaji21 April 2009, 10:13

Btw, I personally feel Ramanuja's translation is the right one and RSDji's is convoluted. Nonetheless, since I had wondered about this for quite a while, I thought I would add his explanation.

anand21 April 2009, 13:29

maNi, wonder why तावकीनानाम् appears as ..नाम even though I checked that your code seems ok.

I somehow do not think this "out of courtesy" type of argument for धार्तराष्ट्राणाम् is valid. (I do like Shri RSD's interpretation but seems strained). धार्तराष्ट्र.. appears many times elsewhere, seeming to just refer to Dhritarashtra's folks.

Also, in Chapter 11, Sanjaya just narrates what he sees and he says that all of Dhritarashtra's sons are being gobbled up by Krishna. For courtesy reasons, he could have sugar coated it there also.

mani21 April 2009, 19:23

I wouldn't mind being gobbled up by Krishna.

Anand -- bug noted, will fix soon.

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