Gita 01.10 Symmetry of structure stresses contrast in content

1.10 Duryodhana has been speaking to Drona and also speaking to others who are overhearing and he has assessed the strength of the two armies and he concludes that analysis in this verse with a summary immeasurable is our strength being protected by Bhishma So Bhishma is the commander of the army and because he has been speaking to Drona, so earlier he has referred to Drona first he has spoken Bhavan, Dronas, Bhavan, Bhishmas Chakranascha while listing the prominent warriors on his side, he has mentioned Drona first and then Bhishma So here he acknowledges the prime position of Bhishma as the commander of his army when he states that Balambhishmabhirakshitam It is Bhishma who is protecting my army and under his protection Aparyaptam, my strength is immeasurable and then next verse, next part he says Paryaptam Taitamitesham Balambhimabhirakshitam Paryaptam refers to adequate that means the strength of the army of the Pandavas is not immeasurable, it is finite and it is protected by Bhima, Bhimabhirakshitam So, at one level, there is a lot of poetic in this poetic features in this verse Aparyaptam and Paryaptam the similar words and then Bhishmabhirakshitam and Bhimabhirakshitam, the two names are very similar for Aparyaptam and Paryaptam if you consider this verse as four lines then the starting of the first line and the ending of the starting of the third line are similar except for the a sound Aparyaptam and Paryaptam and the last word of the second line and the last word of the fourth line Bhishmabhirakshitam and Bhimabhirakshitam show and, except for the show sound which is more in the second line again that is similar and then Aparyaptam Tadasmakam Balambhima Bhishmabhirakshitam Paryaptam Tvaidamitesham Balambhima Bhimabhirakshitam the word Balamb is the same in the second and the fourth lines Aparyaptam Tadasmakam and Paryaptam Tvaidamitesham so ta ta sound is also there in both, in the second lines tad and tva and the whole structure is symmetrical or what in English is called as parallel structure when a comparison is to be done between two objects or two ideas then if they are phrased in similar structures then the differing elements stand out so if we say in English say if we are going to compare say the if this is a cricket match and we are going to compare the teams of say India and Australia so India is led by a fiercely competitive captain and has unlimited talent and as Australia is led by a vastly experienced captain and has unlimited has immense planning ability and has players with immense versatility so here the parallel elements is here the captain is vastly experienced the captain is fiercely competitive there is a captain there are players there the players are immensely talented there the players are immensely versatile so whichever way it is basically if we have this parallel structure then the difference becomes immediately apparent in this verse the parallel structure is used to highlight the difference between the two armies and interesting that here Duryodhana compares the commander of his army Bhishma not with the commander of the opposite army which would be Dhrishtadyumna but he compares him with Bhima why is that? I mean the 18 Akshahuni division that was made Bhima was the commander of one of the Akshahunis, one of the army divisions Arjuna was not one of the commanders but Arjuna would give advice to Dhrishtadyumna and work directly with him Arjuna was the foremost warrior so the Pandavas did not want to straddle Arjuna with having to worry about planning the whole army's fighting he was such an excellent fighter himself that letting him use his skills would be the best thing to do so either way we could say that Arjuna was the foremost warrior on the opposite side and Dhrishtadyumna was the official commander and yet when Bhishma is comparing he doesn't compare his commander with either of them that is because he is most obsessed with Bhima now at one level we could say that Bhima is used on the opposite side to highlight the point of artistic comparison to highlight the point of Bhishma and Bhima are artistically very similar and there is poetic symmetry there is poetic beauty through the linguistic and semantic and sonic symmetry that is there the symmetry in terms of how they sound and symmetry in terms of what they mean both are protecting this sonic symmetry is clear to see Bhishma and Bhima are so similar in sound but the semantic symmetry that is symmetry in terms of meaning is also there because for Duryodhana the object of the maximum animosity on the opposite side was Bhima Bhima had Bhima was the person whose formidable strength exceeded the strength of Duryodhana himself and thus Bhima had that had triggered envy in Duryodhana's heart additionally it was Bhima whom he saw as his prime rival Duryodhana loathed all the Pandavas but especially his animosity towards Bhima because Duryodhana's pride was in his own strength and Bhima's strength exceeded Duryodhana's strength so thus in the opposite side his army, his vision goes primarily to Bhima first earlier also when comparing the two armies he began by mentioning Bhima's name first Atrashura Maheshwasa Bhima Arjunasama Ayudhi here there are many formidable warriors like Bhima and Arjuna so the idea is he is focusing on those two warriors because he knows Arjuna is powerful but for him Bhima is the foremost threat and thus he mentions Bhima first there also so it's significant that in the beginning of his assessment in the end of his assessment he mentions Bhima first so in the fourth verse he mentions Bhima begins his mention with Bhima and he ends his discussion also with Bhima thus whatever dominates our consciousness whatever fills our inner world will fill our outer expression to our words are reflections of our thoughts and even this holds true even for a person like Duryodhana who is very diplomatic and he is trying to diplomatically trigger people's emotions in such a way that they will all be ready to fight for him to the fullest yet his outer expression reflects his inner emotion his inner disposition.