BG 1.6 — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 1.6Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · Arjuna → Krishna · anuṣṭubh

युधामन्युश् च विक्रान्त उत्तमौजाश् च वीर्यवान् ।

सौभद्रो द्रौपदेयाश् च सर्व एव महारथाः ॥

yudhāmanyuś ca vikrānta uttamaujāś ca vīryavān

saubhadro draupadeyāś ca sarva eva mahā-rathāḥ

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

meaning

Yudhāmanyu the brave, Uttamaujā the mighty, Abhimanyu son of Subhadrā, and the five sons of Draupadī, every one of them a warrior who could hold ten thousand archers at bay.

ekras · bhāṣya

Duryodhana names the next group. "Yudhamanyu the brave, Uttamauja the mighty, Abhimanyu son of Subhadra, and the five sons of Draupadi — every one of them a maharatha." A maharatha in the kshatriya tradition is the warrior who can hold ten thousand archers at bay alone. To call someone a maharatha is to mark them as a one-man division. Duryodhana is saying every name on this list — including the youngest, the children — is at that level. Yudhamanyu and Uttamauja are from Pancala; they are the warriors assigned to protect the wheels of Arjuna's chariot, fighting specifically so Arjuna can fight without watching his back. Saubhadra is Abhimanyu, son of Subhadra. Subhadra is Krishna's sister, so Abhimanyu is Krishna's nephew and Arjuna's son — family on both sides. The Draupadeyas are the five sons of Draupadi, one from each of the five Pandavas, the children of the war's central woman. So Duryodhana is now telling Drona that even the next generation — Arjuna's son, the five sons of Draupadi, the chariot-wheel protectors — is at the level of a man who could hold off ten thousand. The Pandava side has its future already standing on the field.

Context

where

Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Arjuna → Krishna

preceded by — BG 1.5

Dhṛṣṭaketu, Cekitāna, the mighty king of Kāśī, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Śaibya, foremost among men, stood ready on the Pāṇḍava side.

What's going on

Yudhāmanyu the brave, Uttamaujā the mighty, Abhimanyu son of Subhadrā, and the five sons of Draupadī, every one of them a warrior who could hold ten thousand archers at bay.

Sūtras through this verse (99)

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here1.6───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-ruleapproach

───→here1.6───→2.12Every soul named here is a real distinct self.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here1.6───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

show all 99

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbaapproach · other

───→here1.6───→2.18Image perishes, source endures

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closeapproach

───→here1.6───→2.18The mirror breaks but the sun is unhurt.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesapproach

───→here1.6───→2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here1.6───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksapproach

───→here1.6───→2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadapproach

───→here1.6───→2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here1.6───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do aloneapproach

───→here1.6───→2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotapproach

───→here1.6───→2.13Self-survival is settled by śruti, not by reason.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here1.6───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here1.6───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here1.6───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here1.6───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

───→here1.6───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipapproach

───→here1.6───→2.31A warrior's own duty is the war he faces.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here1.6───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingapproach

───→here1.6───→2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here1.6───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here1.6───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here1.6───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here1.6───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

1.2Same form repeats on the next verse.───→here1.6───→2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here1.6───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourapproach · v2

───→here1.6───→2.13Bodies pass, the dehī does not

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterapproach · v2

───→here1.6───→1.29The body fails

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here1.6───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here1.6───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here1.6───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here1.6───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here1.6───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictapproach · other

───→here1.6───→1.31Bad omens

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthaapproach · other

───→here1.6───→2.10Thesis flat

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseaseapproach

───→here1.6───→2.10Sorrow and delusion are the seed of saṁsāra.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downapproach

───→here1.6───→2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youapproach

───→here1.6───→2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here1.6───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here1.6───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimapproach

───→here1.6───→2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here1.6───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asiapproach

───→here1.6───→2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here1.6───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here1.6───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here1.6───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here1.6───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here1.6───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideapproach

───→here1.6───→2.13Same I as a child is now in this body.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseapproach

───→here1.6───→2.12Plurals block monistic absorption.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedapproach

───→here1.6───→2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here1.6───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

───→here1.6───→2.13Pratyabhijñā backed by śruti citation.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

───→here1.6───→2.13Two objections, three pādas glossed.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availableapproach

───→here1.6───→2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥapproach

───→here1.6───→2.11Madhva first speaks, Jayatīrtha supplies.

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

1.1Discrimination overrun by grief and confusion.───→here1.6───→2.1Pity and despair treated as guests, not host.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here1.6───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here1.6───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaapproach

───→here1.6───→1.28Arjuna at the edge: 'Drishtvemam svajanam Krishna yuyutsum samupasthitam, sidant

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here1.6───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here1.6───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralapproach

───→here1.6───→2.13The memorial-register anchor. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, ta

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101approach

───→here1.6───→2.13Reincarnation pillar. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha deha

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here1.6───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiapproach

───→here1.6───→2.13Body changes. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara.' Gaurav opens the

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

───→here1.6───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here1.6───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here1.6───→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.───→here1.6───→11.50Sañjaya names the viśva-rūpa as witness.

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

1.1See Viṭṭhaleśa's hand for chapter one's gloss.───→here1.6───→1.31The despondency catalogue goes to Viṭṭhaleśa.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketapproach

───→here1.6───→2.10The teaching opens at the carama-bracket.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here1.6───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorapproach

───→here1.6───→2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefapproach

───→here1.6───→2.10Krishna smiles before the first mā-śucaḥ.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here1.6───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesapproach

───→here1.6───→2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personapproach

───→here1.6───→2.12The eternal among the eternal, conscious among the conscious.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here1.6───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridapproach

───→here1.6───→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.───→here1.6───→2.7I am sunk in pity; ask, do not order.

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

1.1The first epithet: supremely compassionate.───→here1.6───→4.7When right wanes, I take a body.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here1.6───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here1.6───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerapproach

───→here1.6───→2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here1.6───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesapproach

───→here1.6───→2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)approach

───→here1.6───→2.10Bracket opens here.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here1.6───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

Śabda · lemmas (11 unique · 13 occurrences)

च ca ×3 — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
युधामन्युः yudhāmanyu — Yudhāmanyu (Pāñcāla warrior) · nominative masculine singular noun

show all 11

विक्रान्तः vi-√kram — to step, stride forth (vi- + √kram) · nominative masculine singular participle noun
उत्तमौजाः uttamaujas — Uttamaujas (Pāñcāla warrior) · nominative masculine singular noun
वीर्यवान् vīryavat — (vīrya + -vat: valor) · nominative masculine singular noun
सौभद्रः saubhadra — son of Subhadrā = Abhimanyu · nominative masculine singular noun · also at 1.4, 1.5
द्रौपदेयाः draupadeya — son of Draupadī · nominative masculine plural noun
सर्वे sarva — all, entire · nominative masculine plural noun
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
महा mahat — great, large; the cosmic intellect (mahattattva) · compound
रथाः ratha — chariot · nominative masculine plural noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Why does Duryodhana personally enumerate the enemy's strength to Droṇa rather than ask his general to assess it — what does this self-reporting reveal about the relationship between knowledge, anxiety, and authority?
02Śrīdhara and Madhusūdana both supply the smṛti definition of mahāratha — is this a technical classification or a psychological weapon Duryodhana uses against himself?

show all 7

03The verse names Abhimanyu (Saubhadra) as a mahā-ratha alongside veterans like Yudhāmanyu — what is the significance of a young warrior's inclusion in this specific catalogue?
04Rāmānuja and Vallabha both see Duryodhana's viṣāda here as a dark prefiguration of Arjuna's viṣāda later — in what ways is recognition of one's opponents' strength a spiritual moment, not merely a military one?
05Śaṅkara's silence on all of Chapter 1 raises a question: when a philosophical tradition deems entire swathes of scripture beneath the threshold of commentary, what is gained and what is lost in that interpretive economy?
06The Draupadīyas — five sons born of one mother to five fathers — are classified here as mahā-rathas before they have spoken a word in the text; what does it mean for one's identity and destiny to be established by catalogue rather than by action?
07All six schools agree the warriors are genuinely powerful — but they disagree sharply on what that power is for (military balance, Bhagavān's providential arrangement, Hari's taratamya ordering, Kṛṣṇa's līlā, precise force-accounting, rhetorical self-torment); which framework changes how you understand your own strengths and the strengths of those who oppose you?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you inventory the obstacles before a difficult task — listing the people, circumstances, and forces arrayed against you — notice whether that inventory is feeding clear-eyed preparation or is feeding the sense of a substantial self imperiled by a substantial world. Śaṅkara's silence here is a practice: some catalogues of difficulty are beneath the threshold where the question 'who is counting?' becomes more urgent than the count itself. Before your next strategic assessment, pause and ask whether the assessor needs examining more than the assessment.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's reading suggests that the people who seem most formidably arrayed against your projects may be instruments in a larger providential design — not obstacles to be overcome but occasions for recognizing your own insufficiency and turning toward the bhakta (devoted) orientation. In a professional or personal conflict, try identifying one strength of the opposing side that exceeds anything in your camp, and ask what relationship to the whole that imbalance is calling you into rather than what counter-maneuver it demands.

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Dvaita

Madhva's taratamya (hierarchical ordering) principle applied practically: in any team or community, genuinely distinct people have genuinely distinct capacities and roles — the mistake is treating everyone as interchangeable (advaitic flattening) or as extensions of yourself (māyāvāda). When building something difficult, explicitly catalogue the distinct capacities of each person involved, resist the impulse to rank them by a single metric, and act from the recognition that each is irreplaceably themselves in service of something larger than any of them.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's insight: the strengths you encounter in others — the colleague whose talent makes yours look small, the competitor whose product is genuinely better — are forms of Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (grace) flowing through them, not threats to your standing. Duryodhana's grief comes from experiencing this grace as hostile. The practice is to receive a superior's excellence as prasāda: something given, not something taken. Try, once today, to compliment a competitor's genuine strength without the hidden agenda of deflating your own envy.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's technical move — defining mahāratha precisely before applying it — is a practice of honest calibration. Before claiming someone is 'excellent' or 'a real threat' or 'a natural leader,' ask: by what standard? What is the actual criterion (śastra-śāstra-pravīṇa — proficient in both weapon-practice and weapon-theory)? Most anxiety about other people's competence dissolves or sharpens usefully when you apply a specific, sourced definition rather than a vague superlative. The next time you are intimidated by someone's reputation, write down exactly what they can do that you cannot.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's reading: Duryodhana's enumeration is a self-made spiral — each additional great warrior he names deepens his own viṣāda (despondency). This is a recognizable cognitive pattern: the more carefully you enumerate reasons for fear, the more real the fear becomes. The practice is not to suppress the enumeration but to notice when the list has shifted from intelligence-gathering to self-torment. At the moment you realize you are adding names to the catalogue to feel worse, not better, that is the moment to stop counting and ask what action is actually available to you now.

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 6: Arjuna to Krishna — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga