BG 1.13 — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 1.13Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · Arjuna → Krishna · anuṣṭubh

ततः शङ्खाश् च भेर्यश् च पणवानकगोमुखाः ।

सहसैवाभ्यहन्यन्त स शब्दस् तुमुलो ऽभवत् ॥

tataḥ śaṅkhāś ca bheryaś ca paṇavānaka-gomukhāḥ

sahasaivābhyahanyanta sa śabdas tumulo 'bhavat

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Then all at once the conches, kettledrums, tabors, trumpets, and cow-horns of the Kaurava host rang out together, and the din that rose from them was enormous.

ekras · bhāṣya

A sound erupts. "Then all at once, conches, kettledrums, tabors, drums, and cow-horns rang out together, and the din was enormous." Bhishma had blown his conch for one specific reason — to lift Duryodhana's spirits. He had not blown it to declare the war. But the Kaurava army heard the sound as a war-announcement, and every instrument they had erupted at once. Five instruments are named: shankha, bheri, panava, anaka, gomukha. Each is a different kind. The conch (shankha) is sea-born, used in worship, blown with the mouth at mangalic moments. The kettledrum (bheri) is iron, buffalo-skin, played with a stick — kept in temples and royal forts. The tabor (panava) is goat-skin, hand-played, sounded at the start of work like a Ganesh blessing. The anaka is the mridanga, the deep clay drum. The gomukha is the war-horn, snake-curved, with a mouth shaped like a cow's. The word sahasa — all at once — does the work. The army was already wound tight; Bhishma's conch was the trigger they were waiting for, and the rest came without anyone asking. A lift to one man's morale became the cue for an army to declare what one man had not declared.

Context

where

Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Arjuna → Krishna

preceded by — BG 1.12

Bhīṣma, the aged grandsire of the Kurus, roared like a lion and blew his conch at full voice to lift Duryodhana's spirits.

What's going on

Then all at once the conches, kettledrums, tabors, trumpets, and cow-horns of the Kaurava host rang out together, and the din that rose from them was enormous.

Sūtras through this verse (99)

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here1.13───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-ruleapproach

───→here1.13───→2.12Every soul named here is a real distinct self.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here1.13───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

show all 99

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbaapproach · other

───→here1.13───→2.18Image perishes, source endures

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closeapproach

───→here1.13───→2.18The mirror breaks but the sun is unhurt.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesapproach

───→here1.13───→2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here1.13───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksapproach

───→here1.13───→2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadapproach

───→here1.13───→2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here1.13───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do aloneapproach

───→here1.13───→2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13Self-survival is settled by śruti, not by reason.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here1.13───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here1.13───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here1.13───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here1.13───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workapproach

───→here1.13───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipapproach

───→here1.13───→2.31A warrior's own duty is the war he faces.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here1.13───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingapproach

───→here1.13───→2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here1.13───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here1.13───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here1.13───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here1.13───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

1.2Same form repeats on the next verse.───→here1.13───→2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here1.13───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourapproach · v2

───→here1.13───→2.13Bodies pass, the dehī does not

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterapproach · v2

───→here1.13───→1.29The body fails

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here1.13───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here1.13───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here1.13───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here1.13───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here1.13───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictapproach · other

───→here1.13───→1.31Bad omens

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthaapproach · other

───→here1.13───→2.10Thesis flat

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseaseapproach

───→here1.13───→2.10Sorrow and delusion are the seed of saṁsāra.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downapproach

───→here1.13───→2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youapproach

───→here1.13───→2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here1.13───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here1.13───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimapproach

───→here1.13───→2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here1.13───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asiapproach

───→here1.13───→2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here1.13───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here1.13───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here1.13───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here1.13───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here1.13───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13Same I as a child is now in this body.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseapproach

───→here1.13───→2.12Plurals block monistic absorption.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here1.13───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātraapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13Pratyabhijñā backed by śruti citation.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhaapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13Two objections, three pādas glossed.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availableapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥapproach

───→here1.13───→2.11Madhva first speaks, Jayatīrtha supplies.

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

1.1Discrimination overrun by grief and confusion.───→here1.13───→2.1Pity and despair treated as guests, not host.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here1.13───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here1.13───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaapproach

───→here1.13───→1.28Arjuna at the edge: 'Drishtvemam svajanam Krishna yuyutsum samupasthitam, sidant

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here1.13───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here1.13───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13The memorial-register anchor. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, ta

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101approach

───→here1.13───→2.13Reincarnation pillar. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha deha

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here1.13───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiapproach

───→here1.13───→2.13Body changes. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara.' Gaurav opens the

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningapproach

───→here1.13───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here1.13───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here1.13───→3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalJ

Sañjaya's frame — evidentiary, not ornamentalbetween

1.2Dṛṣṭvā tu — Sañjaya speaks to be heard later.───→here1.13───→11.50Sañjaya names the viśva-rūpa as witness.

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

1.1See Viṭṭhaleśa's hand for chapter one's gloss.───→here1.13───→1.31The despondency catalogue goes to Viṭṭhaleśa.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketapproach

───→here1.13───→2.10The teaching opens at the carama-bracket.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here1.13───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorapproach

───→here1.13───→2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefapproach

───→here1.13───→2.10Krishna smiles before the first mā-śucaḥ.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here1.13───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesapproach

───→here1.13───→2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personapproach

───→here1.13───→2.12The eternal among the eternal, conscious among the conscious.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here1.13───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridapproach

───→here1.13───→2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.

ŚrīdharaclassicalA

The Gītā as raft across griefbetween

1.1A raft of teaching crosses the grief-sea.───→here1.13───→2.7I am sunk in pity; ask, do not order.

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

1.1The first epithet: supremely compassionate.───→here1.13───→4.7When right wanes, I take a body.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here1.13───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here1.13───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerapproach

───→here1.13───→2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here1.13───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesapproach

───→here1.13───→2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)approach

───→here1.13───→2.10Bracket opens here.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here1.13───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

Śabda · lemmas (14 unique · 15 occurrences)

च ca ×2 — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
ततस् tatas — from there, then, therefore

show all 14

शङ्खाः śaṅkha — conch shell; the warrior's signal-conch · nominative masculine plural noun
भेर्यः bherī — kettle-drum · nominative feminine plural noun
पणव paṇava — small drum · compound
आनक ānaka — drum · compound
गोमुखाः gomukha — trumpet (cow-faced) · nominative masculine plural noun
सहसा sahasā — suddenly, forcibly (instr. of sahas)
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
अभ्यहन्यन्त abhi-√han — (abhi- + han: to slay) · impf indicative pass 3rd person plural
स tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine singular noun
शब्दः śabda — word, sound; the audible · nominative masculine singular noun
तुमुलः tumula — tumultuous, uproarious · nominative masculine singular noun
अभवत् √bhū — to be, become; the earth (verbal root / noun) · impf indicative 3rd person singular

Praśna · so what (7)

01Bhīṣma blows his conch to generate joy in Duryodhana — is an act of motivated compassion (generating another's courage) still entangled in the web of results, or does the motive purify it?
02The entire Kaurava army responds to one commander's signal within an instant: what does this simultaneity (sahasaiva) reveal about the relationship between hierarchy, morale, and collective will?

show all 7

03Madhusūdana's gloss insists the Pāṇḍavas were not disturbed by the tumult — what inner resource produces that imperviousness, and how is it cultivated before the battle rather than during it?
04Śaṅkara's commentary skips every verse before 2.10: what does it mean to read a text whose authoritative interpreter treats its opening chapter as philosophically silent — is chapter one prologue, or is the silence itself a teaching?
05Three schools (Viśiṣṭādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti) each note that the noise is meant to dispel Duryodhana's grief — can sound, ceremony, and collective energy legitimately function as a dharmic (ordered-righteous) tool for strengthening resolve?
06The instruments listed — śaṅkha (conch), bherī (kettledrum), paṇava (tabor), ānaka (battle-drum), gomukha (cow-horn) — span from sacred (conch) to martial (war-drum): what does the mixing of ritual and martial sound-forms say about how ancient India understood the battlefield as a sacrificial arena?
07If Bhīṣma's roar and the Kaurava uproar are real but ultimately dependent on Hari's will (Dvaita), or ultimately Kṛṣṇa's līlā (Śuddhādvaita) — does that diminish or deepen the moral weight of Bhīṣma's choice to fight on the side he fights on?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When your environment erupts in noise — a contentious meeting, a flood of notifications, a crisis clamoring for reaction — practice treating it as the field before the teaching: the tumult is real, but your witness-awareness (sākṣi-caitanya, the witnessing consciousness) need not be swept into it. The Advaita principle here is not detachment-as-indifference but detachment-as-stability: stand in the roar the way Arjuna's chariot stands in the field, and wait for the inner stillness from which discernment can speak.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When someone you lead or love is visibly disheartened, Bhīṣma's act is the model: make a concrete, audible gesture of confidence on their behalf — speak their capability aloud, rally the room, turn the temperature. In the Viśiṣṭādvaita frame this is kainkarya (loving service-act): not flattery, not suppression of their grief, but a positive act of grace extended downward through the hierarchy. Do it immediately (sahasaiva — that very instant), before the mood calcifies.

show all 6

Dvaita

Before entering any high-stakes confrontation — a negotiation, a difficult conversation, a competitive situation — acknowledge explicitly that your will is paratantra (dependent, not self-sufficient): say aloud or internally, 'I bring my full effort; the outcome belongs to Hari.' The Dvaita practice here is not passivity but right-sized agency: you beat your drum as hard as Bhīṣma, and you also know the outcome is not yours to command. That combination — full effort plus released outcome — is what keeps the ego from becoming brittle under pressure.

Śuddhādvaita

In moments of collective excitement — a team celebrating a win, a family gathering in high spirits, a crowd swept up in ceremony — enter the energy as prasāda (grace freely given), not as noise to manage. The Puṣṭi-mārga principle is that Kṛṣṇa's līlā includes jubilation, drama, and even the tension before conflict. Your practice is to be fully present in the collective aliveness of such moments rather than standing outside them as a detached observer. Even the Kaurava drums are part of the Lord's play; receive them with wonder.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's note on tatkṣaṇam eva (that very instant) is a practical teaching: when you decide to act, act completely and without delay. The instruments did not begin one by one — they were played all at once. In devotional practice this means that when you sit for pūjā (worship), prayer, or meditation, commit fully the moment you begin: no partial presence, no hedging. The quality that makes a prayer (or a decision, or a difficult conversation) transformative is the same quality that made the Kaurava tumult tremendous — total, simultaneous commitment.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's insight — the Pāṇḍavas were not shaken (na kṣobhaḥ) — points to the central everyday practice of the advaita-bhakti path: cultivate in ordinary life the inner ground that noise cannot uproot. This means deliberately practicing non-reaction to small provocations (the unkind message, the chaotic household, the ambient anxiety of news) so that when a genuine tumult arrives you are not starting from zero. Devotion to a chosen form of the Lord (iṣṭadevatā) is the method: the bond to Kṛṣṇa is the equanimity, not a technique applied on top of it.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 1, Verse 13: Arjuna to Krishna — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga