Gita 01.02 – Duryodhana’s choice of conversant reveals his political intent

With our eternal Lord. Thank you.

Bhagavad Gita, chapter 1, verse 2. So the previous verse ended with a specific enquiry from Dhritarashtra to Sanjay. What happened? So Sanjay starts narrating this. Now the warriors are in Kurukshetra, Dhritarashtra and Sanjay are in Hastinapur.

Sanjay in this particular case describes the events as they are described in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. So the Bhagavad Gita generally is chapters 23 to 40 or in some versions of the Mahabharata chapters 25 to 42. Some numbers change because in different places the numbering system is different.

But the events just before the battle was about to start are going to be described. Two armies have assembled on the battlefield and they are facing each other and Duryodhana beholds the forces of the Kauravas, of the Pandavas. And his response is given.

So Sanjay watches, Sanjay speaks, Dhrishtva, the Pandavas, come. So Dhrishtva, he sees the Pandavas, Yudham, their phalanxes, their military formations. Just like in a cricket match, a batsman has a stance.

Some batsmen by their stance itself it's understood that this is an aggressive batsman, this is a defensive batsman, this is a left-handed batsman, this is a right-handed batsman, whatever. And depending on the stance of the batsman, the captain of the opposing team knows, comes to know some extent the intentions or the strategies of the batsman. And accordingly, the captain sets the field and the captain, the bowler comes up with a strategy of how the bowler is going to bowl.

So now, similarly, whenever there is a war going to take place, the military formation gives an idea of the strength and the intention. So if it's a tail-ended batsman and the batsman is just wanting to stay on somehow, the stance will be very defensive. So now, Duryodhana was extremely confident that he was going to win the war because he had great warriors like Bhishma, Drona, Karna, he himself was there.

So, in fact, he was so confident that he felt that there would not even be much of a match. His forces would easily crush the Pandavas. That's why, in order to incite the Pandavas, the previous night before the war started, he sent Unnuka, the son of Shakuni, with a message meant to goad the Pandavas.

And he said, Bhima, you think you are going to kill me? But you know what I did to you? I made you wash vessels in the kitchen of Virat. And Arjuna, you think you are so powerful? But I made you into Unnuka. And like that, he described all the humiliating and distressing situations the Pandavas had gone through.

And he said that this is how superior men punish inferiors who have the audacity to challenge them. And similarly, I am going to crush you. So, his goal was to incite the Pandavas so that they would have some fighting spirit.

The Pandavas and their warriors were enraged. And Arjuna said, only Unnuka speak words. My answer will come tomorrow with the Gandiva bow.

And like that, all the warriors spoke. But now, when Duryodhana sees the military formation of the Pandavas, he sees that they are not cowering in fear, thinking that we are outnumbered and outmaneuvered. They are having a very strong and aggressive military formation as if they are sure of their victory.

And immediately he becomes concerned. So, Duryodhana sees this and becomes concerned. What happens after that? Acharya Mupa Sangamya.

He goes to Acharya. So, the word Acharya generally means teacher. Now, within the Vaishnava traditions, the Acharya can refer to a very exalted teacher also.

It's like we have Srila Prabhupada as the founder Acharya. But the word Acharya generally means teacher. And specifically, it also means a teacher who teaches by example.

So, Drona is who is being referred to over here. He is often known as Drona Acharya. So, Drona the teacher and he was, although a Brahmana, he was a Brahmana allowed to teach not just Brahminical skills, but even Kshatriya skills and other skills because they are essentially teachers.

Normally, Brahmanas focus on teaching Brahminical knowledge itself. But Drona Acharya had not only taught Kshatriya skills, but he had also mastered them to such an extent that he also used to use them for fighting. So, he was here to fight on behalf of Duryodhana because he had been maintained by the Kurus and he was obliged to the Kurus.

And the currently ruling Kuru Monarch was Dhritarashtra, who was basically manipulated by his son Duryodhana. So, he was fighting Acharya Mopasangamya, Raja Vachinam Abravit. Raja Vachinam Abravit.

He spoke these words. Now, the word Raja can have two meanings. This word Raja can be a reference by Sanjay to Dhritarashtra.

Okay, I'm telling you this. In Sanskrit, we don't have commas which can point out. Okay, this is this, this is referring to this, this is referring to this.

So, normally the commas are position markers and direction of communication markers. The word Raja here can also refer to Duryodhana. Now, that reference is a little complicated because Duryodhana is not himself the king.

Although he acted in many ways as if he were the king, but the official king was Dhritarashtra. And certainly, while talking with Dhritarashtra, normally Duryodhana would not consider himself to be the king because he showed some nominal respect at least to his father. So, Vallavidya Bhushan explains that this Raja here can refer not just to king but Rajaniti, one who does and who is expert in Rajaniti, in diplomacy, in politics.

Such a person is called Raja. So, he went to Dronacharya Vachinam Abravit. He spoke these words.

Now, there will be no Duryodhana Vachinam in the next verse because Abravit is already included over here. Now, what does this signify? Now, if you look at the line of command, Bhishma is older in age to Drona and Bhishma is also the commander. Drona became the commander on the 11th day after Bhishma fell on the 10th day.

So, when Bhishma is the commander at that time, why is it that Duryodhana instead of going to Bhishma for consultation or for cautioning or for directing whatever, why does he go to Drona? Now, we will see that Duryodhana was always suspicious about the commitment of Bhishma, Drona, Kripa especially Bhishma and Drona because he knew that they were affectionate towards the Pandavas. So, he of course wanted them to fight on his side and he knew they were formidable warriors but he wanted to increase their commitment to him and for that purpose now there was Bhishma and Drona. Now, Bhishma was vow bound that he would always protect the ruling monarch of the Kuru dynasty.

So, when he took that vow, he would never have thought that a day would come when the Kuru dynasty's descendants itself would be fighting against each other and he would be pitted on a side he would not have liked to fight. Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra happened to be the reigning pair and he had to fight on their behalf but at least because Bhishma was bound by a vow, so Bhishma's commitment was sure but Drona was not exactly bound by any vow of that magnitude. Yes, when Drona had been in immense poverty at that time, the Kuru dynasty had sheltered him, had remunerated him, had honored him and had given him the facility by which he had become a celebrated martial teacher not just in the Kuru kingdom but practically among all the warriors of his times who would come to him for training.

So, he was definitely grateful to the Kuru kingdom but still he was not vow bound. So, here Duryodhana goes to Drona and he will speak in a way by which he will want to burn away whatever affection Drona might have for the Pandavas and instead get him to fight on his behalf and not just fight which he is already doing but fight wholeheartedly, fight furiously. So, his next speech in the next verse will reveal how he presses just the right buttons on Drona in order to try to manipulate him.

He will refer back to an old rivalry almost enmity between Drona and Drupada in the next verse but here the point is Duryodhana, he says observe the military phalanxes of the Pandavas and then goes to Drona. So, Dushthva to Pandava Anikam Yudham Duryodhanastada After seeing the Pandavas military phalanxes, Duryodhana, Acharya Mupasangam, approaching the Acharya, Raja Vachinam Abhravit. Raja spoke these words.

So, the one who is expert in Rajneeti will now be speaking and his speech will show his expertise in Rajneeti, in diplomacy. So, a person may conceal oneself if one is well-dressed but when the person starts speaking then we get the words that a person speaks are often windows into the heart of the person because after all what can we see we can just see the way a person dresses and conducts oneself and then maybe we can know what the profession of the person is but then if you want to know the person apart from the appearance and the designation then that is largely revealed by the speech. So, Duryodhana, he was evil, he was greedy, he was envious but he also had diplomatic skills and his diplomatic skills were being revealed in the subsequent verses wherein from the verse 3rd to 10th he will speak about the two forces Pandavas and the Kauravas, their strengths, their various and then in that way he will speak in the 11th verse also and then he will be cut off by Bhishma's blowing the conch shell.

Of course, Duryodhana has almost come to the end of his talk itself and these verses from 3 to 11 will reveal how Duryodhana is Raja in the sense of being shrewd expert at Rajneeti and that shrewdness is seen even before his speech it is seen in his action instead of going to anyone else he goes to the person whose commitment he suspects and speaks in a way by which he incites that person Drona and thereby tries to increase his antipathy towards his opponents because right now Drona has sympathy towards his opponents the Pandavas but by pointing out that his old enemy is there on that same side he will try to trigger antipathy that will remove the sympathy and by that his hope is that Drona will strike with his full ferocity so Duryodhana is revealing just by his choice of whom he goes to meet.