Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 1, Verse 15: Arjuna to Krishna — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga
Krishna sounded his conch Pāñcajanya, Arjuna sounded Devadatta, and the mighty Bhīma sounded the great conch Pauṇḍra.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
Hṛṣīkeśa (the lord of all senses) sounded Pāñcajanya; Dhanañjaya (he who subdued all kings) sounded Devadatta; and Bhīma of terrible deeds — he whose belly is like the wolf's (vṛkodara) — sounded the great conch Pauṇḍra. The epithets themselves point beyond the battlefield: one who is already 'lord of the senses' (hṛṣīkeśa) acts without being the agent; one who is 'conqueror of wealth' (dhanañjaya) has already relinquished the fruit. The conch-blasts are action — yet they proceed from names that negate doership.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
Hearing Bhīṣma's conch-roar on behalf of a despondent Duryodhana, the Sarvabhagavān Pārthasārathi — standing with his devotee-warrior Arjuna on that divine chariot capable of conquering all three worlds — sounded the blessed Pāñcajanya; and together they caused the heavens to tremble. That sound split the hearts of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's sons, who in that moment understood: the Kuru army was already lost. Rāmānuja's prose dwells on Kṛṣṇa as 'Sarvīśvareśvara' (lord of all lords), on the chariot as 'trailokya-vijayopakara' (instrument of three-world conquest) — the material scene is already saturated with the Bhagavān's sovereignty; the conch-blast is kainkarya (service rendered by the Lord himself) echoing back to Bhīṣma's own noise.
- Madhvadvaita
Hṛṣīkeśa — Hari who drives all senses and all beings as their inner controller — sounded Pāñcajanya; Dhanañjaya, whose conquest of kings is inseparable from his dependence on Hari, sounded Devadatta; and Vṛkodara, of fearsome deeds, sounded the great Pauṇḍra. In Dvaita reading each epithet marks the jīva's permanent, real distinction from Hari: Arjuna is truly 'conqueror' (dhanañjaya) because Hari truly grants the conquest; Bhīma's fearsome power (bhīma-karma) is a real quality of a real, eternally distinct individual. The conch-blasts enact the hierarchy — Hari's Pāñcajanya sounds first, and only then do the jīvas (Arjuna, Bhīma) follow.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, and the rest sounded their own conches separately (pṛthak pṛthak) — and that roar split the hearts of Duryodhana and all the Dhārtarāṣṭras. The Puṣṭi-mārga eye sees here not strategy but līlā-vibhūti: Kṛṣṇa's bliss overflows into the sound of Pāñcajanya, and the cascade of conches that follows is an answering chorus in his play. The hearts that are 'split' (bibheda) are pierced not merely by fear but by the dawning recognition that Kṛṣṇa's grace (prasāda) has already decided the outcome — Duryodhana's grief is the shadow-side of Kṛṣṇa's joy.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Śrīdhara's lens is philological-devotional: the verse names the conches by their proper names — Pāñcajanya, Devadatta, Pauṇḍra — and Śrīdhara pauses to clarify each epithet's derivation. Vṛkodara means 'he whose belly resembles a wolf's' (vṛka-vad-udaram), signaling Bhīma's vast appetite and vast strength. Bhīma-karma means 'he whose deeds are fearsome (bhīmam).' These are not mere decoration: the names carry the dharma of the named, and to sound a conch under one's own name is to assert one's role in a cosmic order. Devotional reading adds: Kṛṣṇa sounds first because all the auspiciousness (māṅgalya) of the moment issues from him.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
The conch-names are banners of theological argument: 'Hṛṣīkeśa' is used here to announce that the indweller of all senses (sarvendriya-prerakatva) fights on Arjuna's side — which means the Pāṇḍava army is, in principle, invincible. 'Dhanañjaya' recalls that Arjuna has already, in the digvijaya, conquered every king, so he is already proven undefeatable (sarvathā ajeyaḥ). 'Vṛkodara' signals immense physical power through appetite (bahvannapāka). Madhusūdana then pivots: the Pāṇḍava conches have proper names known throughout the three worlds (svena-nāmabhiḥ prasiddhāḥ), while not a single conch on the Kaurava side carries a distinguished name — this asymmetry in naming is itself evidence of which side carries the sanction of dharma. The conch-blast is simultaneously jñāna (the verse educates about real powers) and bhakti (those powers flow from Hṛṣīkeśa).