अन्ये च बहवः शूरा मदर्थे त्यक्तजीविताः। नानाशस्त्रप्रहरणाः सर्वे युद्धविशारदाः॥
anye ca bahavaḥ śūrā madarthe tyaktajīvitāḥ / nānāśastrapraharaṇāḥ sarve yuddhaviśāradāḥ
Men are ready to die 'for my sake' — and Duryodhana names this fact without apparent weight.
Word by word (7)
- anye ca bahavaḥ
- — and many others
- śūrāḥ
- — heroes / warriors
- mat-arthe
- — for my sake / for my cause
- tyakta-jīvitāḥ
- — ready to give up their lives / who have abandoned attachment to life · A sobering phrase. These warriors are prepared to die — for Duryodhana's cause. He does not seem moved by this.
- nānā-śastra-praharaṇāḥ
- — armed with various weapons
- sarve
- — all
- yuddha-viśāradāḥ
- — skilled in warfare / battle-experienced
Duryodhana finishes listing named warriors and adds: 'And there are many others — all heroes, all ready to give their lives for my cause, armed with every kind of weapon, all skilled in battle.'
A modern analogy
A CEO notes at a board meeting: 'We have a team of 500 people fully committed, many of whom have staked their careers on this venture.' The weight of that responsibility — lives, livelihoods, futures — is real. Duryodhana registers it as a strategic asset. Arjuna will register it as a moral burden.
What it does NOT mean
This is not heroism being celebrated — it is the cost of Duryodhana's choices being stated plainly. 'For my sake' (mad-arthe) — all this blood will be shed for one man's unwillingness to share a kingdom. The Gita does not comment on this directly, but the contrast with Arjuna's grief in V1.28–47 is stark.
Take with you
- When others commit their lives or careers 'for your sake,' that is not just a resource — it is a responsibility.
- The phrase 'for my sake' (mad-arthe) rather than 'for our cause' or 'for dharma' reveals the ego at the center.
- Those who fight for a cause they believe in deserve leaders who have examined whether that cause is worthy.
The phrase 'tyakta-jīvitāḥ' — those who have abandoned attachment to life — is deeply ironic in context. In Chapter 2, Krishna will praise exactly this quality: the warrior who acts without attachment to the result, even life itself. These Kaurava warriors are doing something technically admirable (risking death without clinging to life) but for the wrong reason and cause. This is one of the Gita's subtler points: the quality of an action cannot be separated from its aim (phala). Courage in service of adharma is not the same as courage in service of dharma. The outer form of the virtue may be identical; its inner substance is entirely different.
Karma-Yoga lens
Tilak would emphasize that 'mad-arthe' (for my sake) is the crux of the problem. Karma Yoga prescribes action for the sake of the larger good, the divine purpose, the welfare of all beings — not for a single individual's ego. Duryodhana's warriors die 'for Duryodhana,' not for dharma. The Gita will later teach that all action should ultimately be offered to the Divine, not to the personal ego.
Modern parallels
Organizational psychology distinguishes between 'person-centered' loyalty (loyalty to a specific leader) and 'cause-centered' commitment (loyalty to a mission or principle). Person-centered loyalty is inherently fragile and often leads people to follow leaders into choices they would never make on their own. The Gita consistently advocates for alignment with dharma, not with any individual.
Public-domain translations (2) compare all →
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Janaka attained perfection through action — not despite it. Act for the welfare of the world (lokasaṃgraha).
The wise act like the unwise — same actions, same engagement — but without attachment, for the world's welfare.
Better to die with clean hands than to win with blood on them.
Whoever studies this sacred dialogue — by him I shall have been worshipped by jñāna-yajña; such is My conviction.
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.