वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे रोमहर्षश्च जायते। गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तात् त्वक् चैव परिदह्यते॥
vepathuś ca śarīre me romaharṣaś ca jāyate / gāṇḍīvaṃ sraṃsate hastāt tvak caiva paridahyate
The greatest bow in the world slips from the hands of the greatest archer — this is what moral crisis looks like.
Word by word (7)
- vepathuḥ
- — trembling / shuddering
- śarīre me
- — in my body
- roma-harṣaḥ
- — hair standing on end / horripilation · Romaharsha — the classic Indian sign of intense emotion, whether joy or grief. The same physical response occurs at a great musical performance or at extreme fear.
- ca jāyate
- — and arises / occurs
- gāṇḍīvam
- — Gandiva — Arjuna's legendary bow, a divine weapon · The Gandiva bow was a gift from the fire god Agni, capable of shooting thousands of arrows simultaneously. It is Arjuna's most important instrument. Its slipping from his hand is a powerful symbol.
- sraṃsate hastāt
- — slips from my hand / falls from my grip
- tvak ca eva paridahyate
- — my skin burns / my skin is on fire
My body is shaking. My hair is standing on end. My Gandiva bow — the divine weapon that is my greatest power — is slipping from my grip. My skin feels like it's burning.
A modern analogy
A concert pianist sitting at the keys before the biggest performance of their life — and finding their hands won't cooperate. Not from lack of skill. From something the skill cannot touch. The Gandiva slipping from Arjuna's hand is the most powerful image in the chapter: the tool he has mastered completely, now beyond his reach.
Take with you
- The Gandiva slipping is not a failure of Arjuna's training — it is what grief does to even the most prepared hands.
- Romaharsha (hair standing on end) is the body's signal of extreme emotional intensity — in the Gita tradition, even ecstasy produces this response.
- When your most refined capacity fails you in a moment of moral crisis, the problem is not the capacity. It's the frame holding it.
The detail of the Gandiva slipping is specific and important. The Gandiva is not just a weapon — it is the extension of Arjuna's identity as a warrior. It was gifted by Agni (fire), blessed by the gods, capable of firing thousands of arrows simultaneously. It has never let him down. Its slipping from his hand signals that the warrior-identity has become temporarily inaccessible — overwhelmed by the human-being-in-relationship identity beneath it. The Gita is making a subtle point here: no amount of skill, training, or preparation is sufficient when the fundamental orientation (one's relationship to duty and self) is unresolved. Arjuna needs not more training but a different relationship to who he is and what action means. This is why Krishna will not say 'pull yourself together' but will instead offer 18 chapters of philosophical teaching.
Advaita lens
The burning skin and trembling body are what Advaita calls 'vikāra' — disturbance of the bodily-mental complex. The Atman (true Self) is never disturbed; only the body-mind is. Arjuna has lost contact with his Atman and is fully identified with the body-mind-emotion complex. Krishna's teaching will systematically restore that contact.
Modern parallels
Sports psychology identifies 'choking' as what happens when an athlete becomes overly conscious of the mechanics of a skill they normally perform automatically. The Gandiva slipping is the opposite kind of failure: not over-thinking the mechanics but being overwhelmed by the meaning of the moment. Performance psychologists distinguish between skill failure (train more) and frame failure (shift your relationship to the situation). Arjuna's is frame failure.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
My body quivers, my hair stands on end; my bow slips from my hand, and my skin burns all over. [4]
My body trembles and my hair stands on end; my bow slips from my hand and my skin burns. [6]
A shuddering thrills me! and my hair stands up! My Gandeev slips! My skin doth burn! [7]
My body quivers, and my hair stands on end; my bow slips from my hand and my skin burns. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.
He cannot stand. His mind spins. He sees only bad signs ahead.
Bow down, arrows scattered, warrior collapsed — this is where the Gita begins.
Seeing the opposing army, a worried prince rushes to his teacher for reassurance.
Duryodhana catalogues the Pandava heroes — naming his fears, one by one.
Those who respected you will assume you left out of fear — and in their eyes, you will shrink from hero to coward.