विवेचन सारांश

The Military Might and the Warrior Lineup on the Battlefield

Duryodhana continues to name and describe the other powerful warriors and great bowmen (maha-ishu-asah) on the Pāṇḍavas side . He describes many other Maharathis  who are most powerful warriors with 100 Rathis under them and similar in calibre to Bhima and Arjuna. 18 Maharathis participated in this battle, with 11 on the Kaurava side and 7 for the Pāṇḍavas. Some of the Maharathis on the Pāṇḍavas side were Yuyudhan, King Virata and King Drupad with their immense military prowess.  

Yuyudhan was also know as Satyaki. Satyaki was a Yadava and hence part of the Narayani Sena. However, since he was a disciple of Arjuna, he chose to fight for the Pāṇḍavas.

Duryodhana tells Dronaacharya, that he had given all his knowledge in warfare to his most favorite disciple Arjuna, and Arjuna had subsequently imparted that knowledge to Satyaki. Both of them were now fighting against him on the Pāṇḍava side, making Pāṇḍavas almost invincible.This way Duryodhana tries to instigate Dronaacharya.

It is well known that Pāṇḍavas were exiled to 12 years of Vanavas (living in the forest) followed by a year of Agyaatvaas when they were to live incognito. It was stipulated that if the Pāṇḍavas were recognized during the incognito period, they would then have serve another 12 years in exile. During this period, the Pāṇḍava brothers and Draupadi took shelter in the kingdom of Matsya ruled by King Virata. They established themselves under disguise in different roles at the court of King Virata. Yudhistir assumed the role of king’s advisor under the name of Kanka. Bhima masqueraded as a cook with the name Ballabha. Arjuna assumed the role of a dance teacher for Virata's daughter Uttara under the name of Brihanala. Nakul became an equine expert and renamed himself as Granthika; Sahadev identified himself as a cowherd and assumed the name Tantipala. Draupadi assumed the role of the beautician for Princess Uttara under the guise of Sairandhri.  

After the year, when the real personas of the Pāṇḍavas were revealed, King Virata wanted Arjuna to marry his daugther Uttara. Arjuna however declined stating that he always considered her as a his disciple and hence could not accept her as his wife. He proposed that Uattara's hand be given in marriage to his son Abhimanyu and thus Uttara became the daughter-in-law of Arjuna. On the basis of this relationship, King Virat and his army aligns with the Pāṇḍavas during the Kurukshetra Battle. 

Duryodhana continues to instigate Dronacharya by mentioning Drupada again, and giving him the epitaph of Maharathi. 

Drishtaketu was the son of Shishupal. Shishupal was Bhagavān Krishna's cousin, and a rough and abrasive person. His mother knew his son’s shortcomings and had requested Bhagavān Śrī Krishna not to kill her son. Bhagavān Krishna promised his aunt, that he would pardon Shishupal's hundred mistakes. However, if he crosses hundred, HE will have no other option but to kill Shishupal. In Dritarashtra's court, Shishupal started hurtling abuses at Sri Krishna. Bhagavān watched Shishupal's misdemeanors as he continued to malign HIM. Once the threshold of hundred misdemeanors was crossed, Bhagavān killed Shishupal with HIS Sudarshan Chakra.  Duryodhana, while taking the name of all Yoddhas (warriors) was surprised to see Shishupal's son, Drishtaketu fighting alongside of Pāṇḍavas. He did not expect him to fight for Pāṇḍavas as Sri Krishna was responsible for his father's death. 

Duryodhana further added that in the battlefield, the Panchal-Desh was also represented by the gallant Yudhamanyu and the courageous Uttamauja, sons of King Draupad.  Abhimanyu the very brave son of Subhadra and the five sons of Draupadi from the five Pāṇḍavas were also arrayed on the battlefield.

In the previous Slokas Duryodhana described the military preparedness of the Pāṇḍavas and praised their brave generals in order to provoke the fighter instinct of Dronacharya and the Generals on the Kauravas side who were listening on to the conversation. In this Sloka, he tries to boost the morale of the warriors of his side. Although he appeared to be talking to Dronacharya, his message was loud and clear and meant for all the warriors on his side.

He selectively uses the words Asmakam meaning Ours and Vishistah meaning Special. What Duryodhana meant to say was that the Kaurava side too had very a special and gallant army.

While addressing Dronacharya, Duryodhna says Tanni-bodha Dwijottama. Dwijottama meaning twice born refers to Brahmins. They are therefore said to be born twice once from their mother’s womb and second time during their Upanayan ceremony. As Dronacharya was a Brahmin by birth, he is addressed as Dwijottama. Duryodhana refers to Dronacharya as the Best of Brahmanas.  

Duryodhana details the list of valiant warriors on the side of the Kauravas, like Dronacharya himself, Bhīṣma Pitāmaha, Karna, Kripacharya and Ashwatthama who are born fighters and ever victorious in wars. Very tactfully, he took the names of all powerful persons who are fighting on their side. As we all know the two most powerful persons in the entire Mahabharat war were Bhīṣma Pitāmaha and Drona who were fighting on Duryadhona's side.

He mentions the name of Karna before Kripacharya though Kripacharya was supposed to be more valiant than Karna. He took Karna’s name first because Karna was his dearest friend though he is not known to have came to Duryodhana's rescue when needed. There is one instance in the Mahabharat when Karna ran away and did  not save his friend Duryodhana from the attacks of Gandarvas. Infact, Pāṇḍavas had to come to his rescue. 

Duryodhana continues the roll call of great warriors on their side and mentions the name of Aśvatthāmā, who was Dronacharya's son, Vikarna who was a very pious person and the only person on the side of the Kauravas who stood against the disrobing of Daupadi in court, and Bhurishrava, son of Somadatta to be on their side.

Aśvatthāmā had a boon from Brahmādev, that he would never die. When Dronacharya was killed, furiated Aśvatthāmā wanted to destroy the entire dynasty of Pāṇḍavas, to avenge his father’s death. In that raged condition, under the darkness of night, he entered the Pandava’s camp and found five persons sleeping in a row. He mistook them as the five Pāṇḍavas brothers and slayed them all. However, they were the five sons of Draupadi from five Pāṇḍavas and not the Pāṇḍava brothers themselves.  When he realized his mistake, he wanted to kill the remaining offsprings of the Pāṇḍavas. The only person from that clan remaining was Parikshit who was at that time in his mother Uttara's womb. Aśvatthāmā used his Brahmāstra on Parikshit lying inside his mother’s womb but Sri Krishna destroyed the Brahmāstra with his Sudarsan Chakra and saved Parikshit.

Before the start of the war, both Duryodhana and Arjuna were dejected and depressed. However, the reasons for their depression are completely different. Arjuna, being a Sattvic person was depressed since the thought of killing his own kinsmen in the war was weighing heavily on him. Duryodhana on the other hand was depressed as he was anxious about the outcome of the war and not assured of his own victory.

After praising and recognizing all the brave warriors of his side, Duryodhana goes on to add that there are also many other warriors equipped with many weapons. They are all Yuddha-Visharadah, highly skilled in the art of warfare. He acknowledges that they are all fighting on the Kauravas side and are ready to give up their life for his sake. 

The commander-in-chief of Kauravas army was the grandsire Bhīṣma Pitāmaha and on the other side Pāṇḍava army was being steered by Bhima. Duryodhana said the Kaurava army is unlimited and were safely marshalled by Bhīṣma Pitāmaha, an epitome of gallantry and valor. As mentioned earlier,  there were eighteen Akshauni senas fighting the Mahabharata war. Kauravas had eleven Akshauni senas and Pāṇḍavas had seven.The word Aparayaptam means unlimited. He used the term to describe his own army whose strength seemed unlimited in contrast to the strength and valor of warriors fighting for the Pāṇḍavas, their strength being described as Parayaptam which means limited.

These two adjectives Aparayaptam and Paryaptam used in this Sloka have been interpreted differently by different schools of Gītā-Visharadas. One is the interpretation as given above and the other as given by Ramanujacharyaji  is that Duryodhana meant to say that the Kaurava army although bigger and seemingly unlimited would be insufficient in face of the Pāṇḍavas limited but brave army. 

To note however is the fact that Duryodhana was a proud and boastful person with a inflated ego. He wanted to demonstrate that he had a very powerful army and could easily defeat the Pāṇḍavas. This was his Ahankar (ego) and Darpa (pride). At the same time at the bottom of his heart he was scared about the power of the Pāṇḍava army and the outcome of the battle. 

Duryodhana was well aware that Bhīṣma Pitāmaha  had the boon of Ichha Mrityu,  i.e. he could decide when and how to die. He assured all the warriors, that they were all in the safe hands of the grandsire Bhīṣma Pitāmaha  and hence need not worry.  

However, Duryodhana still instructed all his senas to protect Bhīṣma Pitāmaha from all sides. They were required to protect Bhīṣma Pitāmaha  from all sides and protect their own strategic positions. Thus Duryodhana's words were self contradictory. On the one hand he reposed faith on Bhīṣma Pitāmaha  valour, and on the other hand he asked other warriors to protect him from all sides.

The next session will talk about the Bherighosha or the sounds made by different instruments to announce the start the battle.  

The vivechan session was followed by a Questions and Answers session, and concluded with the prayer to the Supreme, and rendition of Hanuman Chalisa.

Question and Answer:

Bhagavat Nemane Ji

Q: Is there some guidance from Gītā on how to improve our health?
A: Chapters 6 and 17 specifically deal with health issues. If you are following the guidance around ahaar (food) or daan (donation), your health is likely to be good and your life will be better.