भवान् भीष्मश्च कर्णश्च कृपश्च समितिञ्जयः। अश्वत्थामा विकर्णश्च सौमदत्तिस्तथैव च॥
bhavān bhīṣmaś ca karṇaś ca kṛpaś ca samitiṃjayaḥ / aśvatthāmā vikarṇaś ca saumadattis tathaiva ca
Duryodhana lists his greatest champions — and every name carries its own tragic irony.
Word by word (8)
- bhavān
- — yourself / Your Honour (Drona) · Duryodhana lists Drona himself first among his own forces — this is flattery but also truth. Drona is arguably the greatest warrior-teacher alive.
- bhīṣmaḥ
- — Bhishma — the grandsire, greatest warrior of his age · Bhishma (born Devavrata) took the terrible vow of celibacy to secure the throne for his father's new wife's sons. He is the moral and military anchor of the Kaurava side.
- karṇaḥ
- — Karna — Arjuna's rival, secretly the eldest Pandava · Karna's presence is one of the great tragic ironies: he fights against his own brothers without knowing they are his brothers, born of Kunti.
- kṛpaḥ
- — Kripa — Drona's brother-in-law
- samitiṃ-jayaḥ
- — ever-victorious in battle
- aśvatthāmā
- — Ashvatthama — Drona's son
- vikarṇaḥ
- — Vikarna — one of Duryodhana's brothers who spoke against the dice game
- saumadattiḥ
- — Bhurishravas, son of Somadatta
Duryodhana names his side's greatest warriors: Drona himself, Bhishma the grandsire, Karna the matchless archer, Kripa the always-victorious, Ashvatthama (Drona's son), Vikarna, and Somadatta's son Bhurishravas.
A modern analogy
A general listing his finest commanders — experienced, capable, battle-tested. On paper, this is an impressive list. And yet each name in this list has a complicating story. In real conflict, people are never just their capabilities.
Take with you
- Even the most capable team can be undone by conflicting loyalties, hidden truths, and moral compromises.
- Bhishma, the greatest warrior here, is fighting for a side he knows is wrong — because of a vow. The cost of wrong commitments is immense.
- Karna, unknown to himself, is fighting against his own brothers — the tragedy of identity misplaced.
Each name in this verse is a study in tragic complexity: Bhishma — the greatest warrior of the age, yet fighting for a side he knows is morally wrong. He does so because his vow (bhīṣma-pratigñā) binds him to protect whoever sits on Hastinapura's throne. His vow is his dharma, but the throne-holder (Duryodhana) represents adharma. Bhishma is caught between two legitimate obligations — a condition the Gita will spend 18 chapters addressing. Karna — born to Kunti before her marriage, set adrift, raised by a charioteer. He does not know he is the eldest Pandava — Arjuna's own elder brother. He fights against his own kin out of loyalty to Duryodhana, the one person who honored him when society rejected him for his low birth. His loyalty is admirable; its object is tragic. Vikarna — Duryodhana's own brother — is listed here, but Vikarna was notably one of the few Kauravas who spoke against the humiliation of Draupadi at the dice game. He knew it was wrong. Yet he too is here, fighting on the wrong side. The knowledge of what is right and the willingness to act on it are two different things.
Karma-Yoga lens
Tilak's reading of these warriors emphasizes that every person in this war had a choice — and that choices, once made, accumulate into destinies. Bhishma's terrible vow, Karna's misplaced loyalty, Vikarna's moral clarity without moral courage — all are different flavors of the same problem: knowing dharma and not fully acting from it.
Modern parallels
Every major organizational failure — whether in corporations, governments, or families — contains its own Bhishmas (capable people bound by wrong commitments), Karnas (loyally serving the wrong cause), and Vikarnas (knowing what's right but not acting). The Gita's message is that the cost of misaligned action is eventually paid — by everyone.
Public-domain translations (2) compare all →
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
How do you raise a weapon against the teacher who made you?
Daivī wealth begins: abhaya, sattva-śuddhi, jñāna-yoga, dāna, dama, yajña, svādhyāya, tapa, ārjava.
I would rather be killed than kill them — a statement of love that goes beyond self-preservation.
Better to die with clean hands than to win with blood on them.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
A blind king asks what happened on the battlefield — and the Gita begins.