Chapter
1: The despondency of Arjuna
“Oh
Sanjaya, tell me all about my sons and Pandavas who have assembled there
on the holy ground of Kurukshetra. What were they
doing? “, asked Dhritarastra.
Sanjaya narrated the
events as they happened 10 days back, just before the start of the war. The
prince Duryadhana
went to Drona, his
preceptor, who was also a major lieutenant of his army and described the great
warriors on both sides. On the Pandava side the army chief was
Dhrstadyumna, the son of Panchala king
Drupada.
There were warriors like Bhima and Arjuna, the two mighty Pandava brothers, Virata, the king
of Matsya, Yuyudhana or Satyaki, the
disciple of Arjuna, Drupada himself, Dhrstaketu,
the king of Chedi, Chekitana or
the son of Satyaki, the king of Kashi, Purujit, also called Kuntibhoja,
the maternal uncle of Pandavas, Shaivya, Yudhamanyu and Uattamauja,
the Pancala princes, Abhimanyu, the son of Subhadra
and Arjuna, the sons of Draupadi and
the five Pandavas, all of them great and powerful and renowned
for their fighting prowess.
On the side of
Kauravas,
the chief was Bhisma, the great grandfather of
the Pandavas and Kauravas, who
despite his age and love for Pandavas, was fighting for Duryadhana on
account of his obligation towards the Kuru dynasty of whose
representative was Dhritarastra. The second in
command was Drona, the preceptor. Other
major warriors were Karna, Krpa, Vikarna, the brother of Duryadhana, Aswatthama,
the son of Drona, Bhurisrava,
the son of Somadatta, and Jayadhrata, the
brother in law of Duryadhana. There were many other
kings and fighters on both sides.
Duryadhana remarked that all
his warriors needed to guard Bhisma, as on the mighty general
rested all the hopes of the Kauarava army. In order to
reassure Duryadhana, Bhisma then blew his conch, and
drums, trumpets, cymbals, gongs and horns, all were used together to make a
terrific noise.
However the din did
not deter the Pandavas. Arjuna, whose charioteer was none
other than Krishna, blew his great
conch named Devadatta, while Krishna blew the
conch named Panchajanya. Paundra was the
name of the conch blown by powerful Bhima, the second Pandava. Anantavijaya was
Yudhisthira’s
conch while Nakula and Sahadeva the young Pandava twins, blew on their respective Sughosha and
Manipushpaka conches.
The king of Kashi, Shikhandi,
the son of Drupada, Dhrstadyumna,
Satyaki, Virata, Drupada himself, the sons of Draupadi, and Abhimanyu, all of
them blew their resp. conches. The loud noise that thus got created, generated
great fear among their enemies and resonated all over the heaven and
earth.
Having seen the
army of his foes, Arjuna, asked Krishna to take his chariot in between
the two armies ready to fight, so that he could see clearly with whom he would
be fighting. Krishna, the expert charioteer brought the chariot in the middle
and told him, "See Partha, the assembled warriors." When he faced the
Kuru army,
Arjuna
realized with horror that he was going to fight his cousins, his Guru, his grandfather, and all other
relatives. He was paralyzed with pity and fear as he would have to kill so many
relatives to win the war. Arjuna therefore pleaded with Krishna that he could not fight under
the given circumstance. He was trembling because of nervousness, and he could
not stand on his feet. His weapons fell from his hand and he sank down on his
knees on the chariot. He thus said to Krishna, “what is the profit that I am
going to derive by killing all my relations? How shall we enjoy the kingdom
after destroying all the near and dear ones? It is a great sin to kill so many
people because without the mighty warriors dynasties will perish and there will
be chaos everywhere. As a result our forefathers and ancestors will not get
their due in the heaven. Nobody will conform to the injunctions of the Holy
Scriptures. As a consequence we all would be incurring grave sins. Women will
yield to horrendous sins through debauchery and there will be racial
intermingling, resulting in formation of mixed classes who would not be
following the essence of religion. We, together with our Pitrs or
ancestors will sink into deepest hell on account of the calamity. Knowing these
how can I proceed with the war? I would rather not fight, let me get killed,
atleast I shall not be privy to this sin.” Saying
these unto Krishna, Arjuna sank down on the chariot, deeply dejected and
disturbed.
Thus ends the
chapter on Despondency of Arjuna.
On a casual glance, Arjuna's argument seems to be potent. However,
on a closer look we find that he is afflicted with a deep malaise. He is afraid
of the consequences and he is hesitant to perform his duties to his brothers and
to the army men who have assembled to avenge the injustice. His desisting from
war will only help the evil to prosper. When a war is inevitable, when the other
side is non relenting, when virtue is at stake, if one relinquishes it for the
sake of pity, he commits a grave folly. The consequences of his
relinquishing may be even worse than his own fears. It is now Krishna's
responsibility to guide his favourite friend and disciple. Moreover Arjuna is
not doing this out of compassion, but out of his attachment to his relatives. If
there were other armies of unrelated kings he would not have hesitated to kill
them. Therefore he has no high moral ground.
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