Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1, Verse 36

Chapter 1 – Arjuna Vishada Yoga · Speaker: Arjuna

Sanskrit verse

निहत्य धार्तराष्ट्रान्नः का प्रीतिः स्याज्जनार्दन ।
पापमेवाश्रयेदस्मान्हत्वैतानाततायिनः ॥

Transliteration

nihatya dhārtarāṣṭrānnaḥ kā prītiḥ syājjanārdana .
pāpamevāśrayedasmānhatvaitānātatāyinaḥ ॥

Meaning

O Janardana, what joy could be ours by slaying the sons of Dhritarashtra? Sin alone would cling to us if we killed these aggressors.

Word meanings

निहत्य – having slain
धार्तराष्ट्रान् – the sons of Dhritarashtra
नः – to us
का – what
प्रीतिः – joy, satisfaction
स्यात् – would be
जनार्दन – O Janardana (Krishna)
पापम् – sin
एव – only
आश्रयेत् – would cling to
अस्मान् – us
हत्वा – having killed
एतान् – these
आततायिनः – aggressors, felons

Anvaya (word order)

जनार्दन, धार्तराष्ट्रान् निहत्य नः का प्रीतिः स्यात्? एतान् आततायिनः हत्वा अस्मान् पापम् एव आश्रयेत् ।

Explanation

Arjuna now brings an argument from the law books in support of his decision. He himself admits that the Kauravas are atatayins, aggressors. The dharma texts list six kinds of atatayin: one who sets fire to another's house, one who gives poison, one who attacks with a weapon, one who plunders wealth, one who seizes land, and one who abducts or violates another's wife. Duryodhana and his allies had committed every one of these: they set fire to the house of lac, poisoned Bhima, seized the kingdom and wealth, and humiliated Draupadi.

According to the science of statecraft, killing such an aggressor incurs no blame. Yet Arjuna says that killing them would bring only sin. Commentators such as Madhusudana Saraswati explain that two kinds of law are in conflict in Arjuna's mind: on one side, the political and penal code that permits slaying an aggressor; on the other, the religious sense that regards killing one's teachers and kin as a great sin. Arjuna rates the second higher and sets the first aside.

The question ka pritih syat, 'what joy would there be for us?', also deserves notice. Arjuna is testing a question of dharma against the yardstick of 'joy'. But the measure of dharma is duty, not personal satisfaction.

Calling Krishna Janardana is meaningful too. One sense of the name is 'he who afflicts the wicked'; another is 'he to whom people pray for their welfare'. Unknowingly Arjuna calls upon the very one who subdues the wicked.

Context

In the previous verse Arjuna announced his decision not to kill the Kauravas; here he gives the moral reasoning behind it. In the next verse he restates the same conclusion more firmly.

Life lesson

When two duties seem to clash, we must ask whether our reasoning comes from discernment or from attachment. A question of dharma should be decided by duty and the wider good, not by personal satisfaction.

Key terms

Atatayin: an aggressor: arsonist, poisoner, armed attacker, robber of wealth or land, or violator of a wife
Janardana: he who punishes the wicked; he to whom people pray; Krishna
Papa: sin; action against dharma and its painful result