आख्याहि मे को भवानुग्ररूपो नमोऽस्तु ते देववर प्रसीद। विज्ञातुमिच्छामि भवन्तमाद्यं न हि प्रजानामि तव प्रवृत्तिम् ॥
ākhyāhi me ko bhavānugrarūpo namo'stu te devavara prasīda| vijñātumicchāmi bhavantamādyaṃ na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim ||
Who are You, fierce-formed? I bow — be gracious! I wish to know You, the Primeval, for I do not grasp Your action.
Word by word (3)
- ākhyāhi me ko bhavān ugra-rūpaḥ
- — Tell me — who are You, the fierce-formed? · Ākhyāhi = tell, relate (ā + √khyā = to tell, make known; imperative). Ko bhavān = who are You? (bhavān = honorific 'Your Excellency' — Arjuna maintains respect even while asking the most basic identity question). Ugra-rūpaḥ = fierce-formed / terrible in form (ugra = fierce, awesome, dreadful; rūpa = form). The ugra epithet echoes back through V11.20 (first ugra), V11.30 (bhāsas tavogrāḥ). V31 is the turning point: 16 verses of description culminate in the simplest possible question: ko bhavān? (Who are You?). The question transforms Arjuna from passive witness to active inquirer.
- namo'stu te deva-vara prasīda
- — Salutation be to You, O best of gods — be gracious! · Namas astu te = let there be a bow to You (namas = bow, reverence; astu = let there be; te = to You). Deva-vara = best/supreme among gods (deva = shining one; vara = best, excellent). Prasīda = be gracious (same root as V25's prasīda and prasāda — this petition bookends the terror-arc: V25 prasīda + V31 prasīda = the petition becomes the frame). Even while asking 'who are You?', Arjuna maintains his bhakti posture: salutation (namas) + petition for grace (prasīda). The question arises FROM devotion, not despite it.
- na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim
- — I truly do not understand / know Your action/way of proceeding · Prajānāmi = I know thoroughly (pra = intensifier + √jñā = to know; prajanāmi = I know clearly, I comprehend). Na hi = truly not (hi = emphatic particle). Pravṛttim = Your action, movement, way of proceeding (pra + √vṛt = to proceed, act; pravṛtti = ongoing action, activity, movement). This second admission — 'I do not grasp Your action' — is deeper than 'who are You?' Arjuna is not just asking for Krishna's identity but for the PURPOSE behind the devouring cosmic action. This sets up V32's direct answer: the purpose IS the nature — kālo'smi (I am Time), and Time's nature is consumption.
After 16 verses of witnessing the cosmic form in terror, Arjuna finally asks the central question: 'Who are You?' He bows, asks for grace, and admits he does not understand the purpose behind what he sees. This is the pivot from description to revelation.
A modern analogy
Like finally gathering the courage to ask the most frightening possible question to the most powerful force you've ever encountered: 'What are you? And why are you doing this?' — and finding that the asking itself takes all the courage you have left.
Sit with this: Arjuna maintains reverence (namas) and asks for grace (prasīda) even while asking 'who are you?' — he doesn't demand, he petitions. Is there a difference between asking a question from fear and asking from reverential curiosity? How does your posture change the answer you receive?
V31 is structurally the hinge of Ch.11: it closes the Arjuna-description block (V15-V31) and opens the Krishna-revelation block (V32-V34). The two-part question — ko bhavān (who are You?) + na prajānāmi tava pravṛttim (I do not grasp Your action) — maps onto the two-part answer of V32: kālo'smi (who I am = Time) + loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddhaḥ lokān samāhartum iha pravṛttaḥ (what My action is = destroying the worlds). V31's question is answered precisely, word-for-word, in V32. This is the Gita's philosophical precision: every question from a valid seeker receives a direct, complete answer.
Bhakti lens
V31's na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim (I do not understand Your action) is bhakti's most honest admission: even the greatest devotee cannot fully comprehend the divine's cosmic activity. This is not a failure of devotion — it is its most authentic form. The devotee who says 'I don't understand' from a posture of namas (bow) and prasīda (prayer for grace) has reached the edge of conceptual knowledge and turned entirely to relationship. The question itself is the prayer.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Tell me who thou art, so fierce in form. I bow to Thee, O God Supreme; have mercy. I desire to know Thee, the Original Being. I know not indeed Thy doing. [1]
Tell me who Thou art, fierce in form. Salutation to Thee, O Supreme Deva! have mercy. I desire to know Thee, O Primeval One. I know not indeed Thy purpose. [4]
Who art Thou, awful Deity! I bow myself to Thee. Namostu Te, Devavara! Prasid! O Mightiest Lord! rehearse why hast Thou face so fierce? Whence doth this aspect horrible proceed? [7]
Tell me who thou art of such fierce form. I bow to thee, O chief of the gods, be gracious to me. I desire to know thee that art the Primeval One, I do not understand thy action. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Tusked mouths blazing like fires of Time — losing all direction, all peace; be gracious, O Deveśa, O World's Abode!
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
Arjuna wants to see who he must fight — a leader unwilling to act blindly.
You are Parabrahm — supreme abode, great purifier, eternal, divine, unborn, all-pervading — the Primordial God!
Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
Action arises from Brahman, Brahman from the Imperishable. The all-pervading ultimate is present in every act of yajna.