Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Bhagavad Gita 1-5, 6


druShTakEtushcEkitanaha kashirajascha veeryavaan

purujitkuMtibhOjashca shaibhyashca narapuMgavaha ||5||

Yudhamanyushca vikranta uttamoujashca veeryavaan

saubhadrO draupadEyaashca sarvaEva maharathaha ||6||

"Duryodhana further enumerates all the leading warriors on the side of pandavas like Drushtaketu, Chekitana, Kashiraja, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, Shaibhya, Yudhamanyu, Vikranta, Uttamouja, son of Subhadara (Abhimanyu) and 5 sons of Draupadi. He says all these (15 people) are great human beings and at the same time great warriors."

If we include Bheema, Arjuna, Yuyudhana, Virata and Drupada, in his list of warriors on the Pandavas side he highlights 20 warriors. It is to note that name of Lord Krishna is not mentioned because Krishna said that he would take part only as a charioteer for Arjuna and that he would not use any weapons during the Mahabharata war. There is a philosophical message in this that one has to fight his/her own war and God is there only to guide us but not to fight.

There is probably an order in the way Duryodhana mentions the names of the warriors with the youngest mentioned last. But it looks like he broke this convention when he mentioned Yuyudhana first. This highlights the importance he attaches to Yuyudhana. It is also notable that Abhimanyu and sons of Draupadi gets mentioned along with other great warriors. Everybody knows about the valor of Abhimanyu when he single handedly fights the entire Kaurava army for an entire day in eighteen day battle (amounts to 5.56% of the battle) and it takes 6 maharathas to kill him. He also mentions Draupadi's sons though their role is not much highlighted either because they were really great warriors or because they were on his hit list and he desired to eliminate entire Pandava family.

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