What is on Duryodhan's mind? (Part 1 of Ch1)

 Chapter 1

Arjun Vishad Yoga

(Arjun’s Despondency)

Part 1
Topic: What is on Duryodhan's mind?

Synopsis:Though Bhagvad Gita is a dialog between Arjun and Krushna, it stars with the  fearful query by Dhrutrashtra which is followed by unwarranted speech of Duryodhan to his guru Drona.

The chapter 1 does not contain any philosophy and it is more like a story of beginning of Mahabharat war. In most treatise on Gita, there are no commentaries on Chapter 1. However Ch 1 describes the scenario which is comparable to some extent to the problems in our everyday life. Therefore Bhagvad Gita’s indoctrination can guide us in our day to day problems.   

The pre-war reactions of  Duryodhan and Arjun are examples of two extreme stands, which we can take in our problems.

Duryodhan, is responsible for this war and he has accumulated a much bigger army.

Even then, at the first site of Pandavas -Sena army, he gets perturbed. He loses his mental poise and goes to Guru Drona and tells unwarranted things, but as Drona does not respond, he winds up his prattling and gains some poise to command his army to fight. Duryodhan is not concerned with the adverse effects of war on armies and the warriors' families He takes joy in telling that many have staked their lives for his victory.

As against this, totally contrasting reaction of Arjun is evident in Part 4 of this chapter.

It is interesting to note, how Duryodhan and Arjun- both have faulty approach for war and how Bhagvad Gita’s teaching is valuable for righteous way.

Along with the mainstream teaching about righteous way of life, the Gita reflects wisdom on many other issues of life. Such points are highlighted in inferences and essence of each part of all chapters.  

Part 1: 

     

dhṛutarāṣṭra uvāca

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ॥ १-१ ॥ 

dharmākṣētrē kurukṣētrē samavētā yuyutsavaḥ|

māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāścaiva kimakurvata sañjaya||1.1||

1. Dhuṛtarāṣṭra  asked – What did my people and the Pāndavas, who were  keen

to fight (and) who  gathered in the holy land of kurukshetra, do, Oh

Sañjaya?

Inference:
This is the only stanza spoken by Dhrutrashtra to Sanjay. Sanjay was gifted special vision by which he was able to see remotely and hence Dhrutrashtra asks him this question. He uses a word ‘mamkah’ means mine for his sons. It is not said in a plain sense but is indicating his blind partiality towards his son Duryodhan. Duryodhan has taken away kingdom of Pandavas, his cousins, by unjust means and also acted several times ghastly to finish them off. Dhrutrashtra should have corrected his son and guarded the interest of Pandavs - his brother’s sons especially when his brother Pandu is no more. Though he is wishful for his son’s victory, he is afraid because the battle is being fought at Kurukshetra which is a Dharmakshetra ( land for righteous acts) and his sons are fighting a battle for wrong cause.

sañjaya uvāca

दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं व्यूढं दुर्योधनस्तदा ।
आचार्यमुपसंगम्य राजा वचनमब्रवीत् ॥ १-२ ॥ 

dṛṣṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkaṃ vyūḍhaṃ duryōdhanastadā|

ācāryamupasaṅgamya rājā vacanamabravīt||1.2||

2. Sañjaya said – Having seen the army of the Pāndavās arrayed, King

Duryōdhanā then approached Drōṇācārya and spoke as follows.

Inference:The word 'Raja' means King,used for

Duryodhan characterizes him in more than one ways.

First, Duryodhan is not a regular king.Though Dhrutrashtra being the eldest was entitled to be the king, due to his being blind, his younger brother Pandu was throned. After he left reign, Dhrutrashtra was appointed as caretaker until the prince becomes eligible by age. In due course Yudhisthir is appointed as King.Later, due to the conflict between Duryodhan the eldest son of Dhrutrashtra and Yudhisthir, the kingdom was split. At last, Duryodhan accompanied by his maternal uncle Shakuni though the dirty tricks, grabs the Kingdom of His cousins and becomes king. 

Second, as per Hindu tradition, King when approaches his 
guru or teacher, he is expected to be humble but in this scene  Duryodhan lacks that reverence to his teacher.

पश्यैतां पाण्डुपुत्राणामाचार्य महतीं चमूम् ।
व्यूढां द्रुपदपुत्रेण तव शिष्येण धीमता ॥ १-३ ॥

paśyaitāṃ pāṇḍuputrāṇāmācārya mahatīṃ camūm|

vyūḍhāṃ drupadaputrēṇa tava śiṣyēṇa dhīmatā||1.3||

3. “O teacher! See this vast army of the Pāndavas, arrayed by the son of

Drupada, your skillful disciple.”

Inference : Though Drona being a brahmin teacher need not join a war which is a duty of Kshatriya means ruling class warriors, he has done that due to his obligation to the employer. Duryodhan should show high respect for the teacher but  as a scorpion would sting his protector, the wicked Duryōdhanā insults his teacher by reminding him of  a tragedy of  Drona.

Duryodhan taunts his teacher Drona by words ‘Tav sisyen’  means your student , said for Drishtadyumna  who has arranged Pandava’s army in this battle. He was Drona’s disciple and a son of king Drupad (whose name appears in the next stanza). Drupad was once upon Drona’s colleague but then became an arch enemy. Drupad has performed a sacrificial Yag (Fire ritual) for getting this son who will kill Drona. Drona knew this, but still did not refuse to teach Drupad’s sons because of his duty as a teacher.

अत्र शूरा महेष्वासा भीमार्जुनसमा युधि ।
युयुधानो विराटश्च द्रुपदश्च महारथः ॥ १-४ ॥

atra śūrā maheṣvāsā bhīmārjunasamā yudhi |

yuyudhāno virāṭaśca drupadaśca mahārathaḥ |1.|4||

4. In this army there are many powerful archers who were equal to Bhima

and Arjuna in battle – Satyaki, the king of Virata - desh country, and Drupada, a

great warrior

Inference: Duryodhan has experienced the mighty combat power of Bhim and Arjun in his life and hence he equates the power of other warriors with that. The word ‘maharath’ is used for some powerful warriors. 

Who can have the title of Mahārathi?

A warrior capable of fighting MORE THAN 12 rathi class warriors, circumspect in his mastery of all forms of weapons and combat skills.

Rathi: A warrior capable of attacking 1000 warriors simultaneously.Thus a Maharathi would fight with 12,000 soldiers at one time. These warriors are kings of other states and have joined this war along with their armies to support Pandavas not only due to their strategic relationship but also because of righteous cause.

धृष्टकेतुश्चेकितानः काशिराजश्च वीर्यवान् ।
पुरुजित्कुन्तिभोजश्च शैब्यश्च नरपुंगवः ॥ १-५ ॥

dhṛṣṭaketuścekitānaḥ kāśirājaśca vīryavān |

purujit kuntibhojaśca śaibyśca narapuṅgavaḥ ||1.5||

5. Dhrstaketu, Cekitāna, the powerful king of Kasi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja,

and Saibya, who is the best among men (are all assembled here).

युधामन्युश्च विक्रान्त उत्तमौजाश्च वीर्यवान् ।
सौभद्रो द्रौपदेयाश्च सर्व एव महारथाः ॥ १-६ ॥

yudhāmanyuśca vikrānta uttamaujāśca vīryavān|

saubhadrō draupadēyāśca sarva ēva mahārathāḥ||1.6||

6. Moreover, the powerful yudhāmanyu, the valiant Uttamaujas,

Abhimanyu –a son of subhdra ( a sister of Krushna married to Arjun), and the sons of Draupadi ( 5 sons, one by each Pandav)  (are all there). All of them are great

warriors.

Inference:  Duryodhan, though has bigger army oh his side, specifically counts names of several warriors on the Pandav side. He seems to be worried about the solidarity of so may warriors with Pandav army. He compares his position in waht follows.

अस्माकं तु विशिष्टा ये तान्निबोध द्विजोत्तम ।
नायका मम सैन्यस्य संज्ञार्थं तान्ब्रवीमि ते ॥ १-७ ॥

asmākaṃ tu viśiṣṭā yē tānnibōdha dvijōttama|

nāyakā mama sainyasya saṃjñārthaṃ tān bravīmi tē||1.7||

7 O best among Brahmins! May you know those who are prominent

among us, the leaders of my army. I am mentioning them to you for the

sake of information.

भवान्भीष्मश्च कर्णश्च कृपश्च समितिञ्जयः ।
अश्वत्थामा विकर्णश्च सौमदत्तिर्जयद्रथः ॥ १-८ ॥

bhavān bhīṣmaśca karṇaśca kṛpaśca samitiñjayaḥ|

aśvatthāmā vikarṇaśca saumadattistathaiva ca||1.8||

8. Your venerable self, bhīṣmaḥ, karṇaḥ, kṛpaḥ the victorious in fight,

aśvatthāmā, vikarṇaḥ and somadattiḥ (are all in our army).

Inference: Who are Duryodhans’s main associates? Though his army is bigger, he could not muster as many committed capable names.

Bhisma is the grandfather of both sides – 100 Kauravas and 5 Pandavs.Bhisma could have objected against this war mongered by Duryodhan against his cousins for his greed and ego or at least could have abstained from it. But due wrong sense of obligation to the Kingdom of Hastinapur, he takes command of the army on a certain conditions. 

Karna is the first son of Kunti, borne before her marriage and bestowed by Sun God as a boon  for her worship.Karna had received extra ordinary weapons and impenetrable shield from the god. Thus he is eldest of Pandavas but due to his getting borne by unmarried Kunti he was abandoned, He was brought up by ordinary woman named Radha and hence he was calling him Radheya. This fact is not known to Pandavas but is known to Krushna. Duryodhan has given some kingdom to Karna  so as to adorn a title of a king and hence he was indebted to Duryodhan and remained his friend throughout the life.

Krup is brother- in- law of Drona and aśvatthāmā is the son of Drona. Asvatthama is a friend of Arjun  but he chose to fight against the friend due to his father’s loyalty to his employer.     

Though all these people know the evil nature of Duryodhan,  because of  their sheer dependence on him they could not take right stand. 

Likewise, Duryodhan seems to doubt the integrity of theirs like grandfather Bhisma and teacher Drona and his brother in law and son. Thus he is on shakey ground

अन्ये च बहवः शूरा मदर्थे त्यक्तजीविताः ।
नानाशस्त्रप्रहरणाः सर्वे युद्धविशारदाः ॥ १-९ ॥

anyē ca bahavaḥ śūrā madarthē tyaktajīvitāḥ|

nānāśastrapraharaṇāḥ sarvē yuddhaviśāradāḥ||1.9||

9. And (there are) many other heroes ready to give up their lives for my

sake. All of them have many weapons and missiles, and are experts in war

Inference: Duryodhan says’ madarthē tyaktajīvitāḥ means ready to give up their lives for Me.

This shows that according to Duryodhan, there was not any noble cause for Mahabharat war except it being fought only for his selfish motives and ego.

अपर्याप्तं तदस्माकं बलं भीष्माभिरक्षितम् ।
पर्याप्तं त्विदमेतेषां बलं भीमाभिरक्षितम् ॥ १-१० ॥

aparyāptaṃ tadasmākaṃ balaṃ bhīṣmābhirakṣitam|

paryāptaṃ tvidamētēṣāṃ balaṃ bhīmābhirakṣitam||1.10||

10. Therefore, our army, protected by bhīṣmā, is insufficient. On the other

hand, this army of these (Pāndavās), protected by bhīmā, is more than

sufficient (to defeat us).

Inference: In the translation of the above stanza, the word ‘paryaptam is translated as insufficient. Accordingly it appears that Duryodhan is not confident about the strength of his army. In fact, in terms of numbers His army was bigger than Pandav. Why then is he diffident?  Some scholars say that it is due to his unjust and immoral position.

However it is observed that some other scholars, have translated ‘aparyaptam’ as ‘unlimited’.  In that case, Duryodhan would sound confident about the strength of his army.Whichever meaning a reader may feel right can take, that does not affect the teaching of the Gita.

अयनेषु च सर्वेषु यथाभागमवस्थिताः ।
भीष्ममेवाभिरक्षन्तु भवन्तः सर्व एव हि ॥ १-११ ॥

ayanēṣu ca sarvēṣu yathābhāgamavasthitāḥ|

bhīṣmamēvābhirakṣantu bhavantaḥ sarva ēva hi||1.11||

11. Stationed at all the points of entry as allocated, all of you, indeed,

should closely protect bhīṣmā alone.

Inference:To protect the chief of the army is normal but here,
something more can be there on Duryodhan's mind. His 
cause for the war, is not righteous. The other kings would not join him but were on his side due to Bhisma's high standing. If Bhisma is fallen,  their support may become uncertain. 

Utilitarian doctrine:

1. One should associate with righteous person from the beginning. Bhishma, Drona and Karna and others associates of Duryodhan were all capable and powerful. They could have taken a firm stand against the war.Due to their association with Duryodhan who was an evil person,they got ill fame and got annihilated.

2. One should not be un-respectful to one’s teacher unlike Duryodhan.

3. A selfish person will not hesitate in getting others harmed or even killed for his unjust greed and ego. In long run such a person loses. 

Hence one should be wary of the other's well being along with his own goal to succeed in long run. 

Related Information

           

A person new to Gita will find it hard to understand it due to lack of context of story of Mahabharat. The following information will help to some extent.

1.    Though the Gita is usually considered as an independent book, actually it happens to be part of epic Mahabharat which includes saga of war also known as  Mahabharat war. Chapters Nos. 1-18 of Bhagvad geeta are  numbered as Chapter no. 23-40 of Bhishma Parva part of Mahabharat book

2.   Chapter 1 and part of Chapter 2 of Bhagvat Geeta are in story form. The scene is of battle field of Kurukshetra where a Mahabharat was fought about a few thousand years ago. In the Mahabharat story, there are many characters like Bhishma, Arjun, Duryodhan, Karna etc. The root cause of the war and the roles of these persons can be understood by reading Mahabharat.  It is a big book of 100 000 verses in Sanskrit and so it will be a tough reading. A reader, who is keen to know the full story, may find abridged version in English or other language.

3.   The significance of the Gita is not as a war story.  You would read in Chapter 1, that Arjun, a valiant warrior who is keen to fight a war which is thrust upon his side by his cousins who were unfair and did many ghastly acts. But as Arjun sees, his kith and keens and Gurus in the opponent side in battle, he is dismayed with the prospect of killing them. His emotional attachment is so overpowering that he gets confused and refuses to fight the war. He thinks it is better even to live on Alms than kill the kith and keens to win the bloodshed kingdom. Eventually,  Arjun is so much confused that he concedes his helpless condition and surrenders to Krushna and tells him that he is is Krushna’s shishya (Student)  and Krushna  should teach him what is right for him.

In response to that Krushna, who is the incarnation of God and who has consented to be Arjun’s Charioteer teaches him about relation of Self  with  the world and divine. That teaching is  Bhagvad geeta. Arjun gets convinced and vows that he will act according to Krushna’s  telling.

4.   As you would read subsequent chapters, it will be evident to you that the teaching of Krushna which is the subject of the Gita is meant not only for the limited cause of War and Arjun but for wider cause for all of us for  leading a righteous life.

5.   Bhagvad Geeta is presented as Dialogue between Arjun and lord Krushna. The Gita is not authored by either of them. Gita is authored by Veda vyas (briefly Vyas) who is also known as Dwaipayan Krushna due o his dark body . The word Krushna in Sanskrit means black or dark..

6.  Lord Krushna is an incarnation of Supreme God but in his human life, he happens to be a relative of Arjun. Arjun’s mother Kunti is a Krusna’s aunt  (father’s sister). Also Arjun has married to the sister of Krushna. Arjun and his brothers and mother etc respects Krushna as a noble person, and a friend  but do not know him as supreme God.

7.    Krushna who himself is the powerful king of Dwarka state owns a big army.  Duryodhan and Arjun both approach Krushna for his help in the  war. Krishna offered two options. 1 His army. 2 Himself but who would not fight.

Though Arjun was given first right to choose, he asked for Krushna even if he will not fight.Durydhan  got the army, what only he wanted.

Now in this incident there are two important points.
1 Krushna has made clear that he will not fight in the war of family feud i.e. God does not join in your good or bad acts.   2. Arjun chose Krushna’s company who is God but also a symbol of righteousness.  Duryodhan is not righteous and he thinks that manpower is more powerful than the divine power. In the end Arjun’s side (Pandavas) win. Duryodhan and his 100 brothers and many other mighty warriors in his army are annihilated.

8.    There are many books on Bhagvad Geeta.

Some are claimed to be ‘As it is’ versions. They invariably include original Sanskrit Stanzas. In some others, for readers who cannot read Sanskrit, there will be transliteration in English or other language. The translation will be verbatim meaning and also words rearranged for the according to the language of translation.

Though this is described as authentic treatment, the interpretation is to be done by the readers. This has several limitations. There are specials words whose meanings are not  found even in Sankrit dictionaries. A reader will not understand or may understand differently due to the ignorance of Vedic and Upnishadic thoughts  which are inherent in Gita.

To remedy the above difficulties, many books of  Gita include commentaries.

These commentaries can be divided in different categories but for our purpose we shall consider in two categories.

i.    Those written by ascets who are concerned with abstract topics like ‘who is I’, ‘Who has created Universe’ .What happens after death. Whether there is rebirth, How to liberate from the cycle of birth and death etc.

ii.    Those written by persons who lived mundane life who are concerned with problems of this life.like ‘ What are right values’.’ How to fight with evils’, ‘How to live harmoniously and joyfully even in the stressful situations’.

This is the  Utilitarian side of Bhagvad geeta

Apart from the general meaning the, the word Utilitarianism  has a specific meaning as stated below.

9.     Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that states that the best action is the one that maximizes utility. "Utility" is defined in various ways, usually in terms of the well-being of sentient entities.  

Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, described utility as the sum of all pleasure that results from an action, minus the suffering of anyone involved in the action.