Sanjaya continues the roll call, naming six more great warriors who stand on the Pandava side.
The verse adds Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, the king of Kashi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Shaibya to the chiefs already mentioned. It is a muster, and most of these names are meant to be read as names; the line works at the level of plain narration before it works at any level of meaning.
Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, and the valiant king of Kashi; Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Shaibya, the best of men.
Sanjaya has begun reciting the warriors gathered for battle in the verses just before; here he carries that listing forward, adding a further set of chiefs to the Pandava muster.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
Sanjaya goes on naming the great fighters of the Pandava side: Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, the valiant king of Kashi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Shaibya, six chiefs added to the muster.
Across Advaita, Śuddhādvaita, BhaktiĀnandagiri · Nīlakaṇṭha · Puruṣottama · ŚrīdharaIn Ānandagiri, Nīlakaṇṭha, and 2 others’ words
This verse continues Sanjaya's roll call of the great warriors fighting on the Pandava side. It is a list of names: Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, the valiant king of Kashi (Varanasi), Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Shaibya. The commentators treat the verse first and foremost as exactly that, a naming of further chiefs added to the warriors already mentioned in the previous verses. One Advaita reader simply notes that the verse is plain, and another counts that it lists six names, signaling that the line works at the level of plain narration before it works at any level of meaning.
Most of these are plain proper names that carry their own sense; they need no unpacking, and you are not meant to mine each word for hidden teaching.
Across BhedābhedaBhāskaraIn Bhāskara’s words
Most of these names are taken to be straightforward proper names that carry their own sense and need no unpacking. One commentator states the principle directly: many of these names are mere designations, self-explanatory, and so not worth expounding; only those names where some special point emerges on following out the sense are explained at all. So the verse is not meant to be mined for hidden doctrine in every word. It is a muster, and the names function largely as names.
Where you do pause is over the epithets: the king of Kashi is valiant, firm in energy and resolve, and Shaibya, a bull among men, stands foremost; some names hold their own meaning too.
Across Bhedābheda, Śuddhādvaita, BhaktiBhāskara · Puruṣottama · ŚrīdharaIn Bhāskara, Puruṣottama, and 1 others’ words
Where the commentators do pause, it is over the descriptive epithets attached to certain warriors, and several read these epithets the same way. The king of Kashi is called valiant or valorous, which is glossed as being endowed with the power of energy and firm resolve. Shaibya is called a 'bull among men,' an idiom for the best or foremost of men, here explained as fitting him because he is joined to the highest warrior-qualities such as valor. Some names are even read for their built-in meaning: Purujit is so named because he conquers much, that is, conquers many; Kuntibhoja is the one who dwells among the Kunti people; Shaibya is the king of the Shivi people.
Taken with the verses around it, the weight of this gathering is its point: these bear great bows, equal Bhima in strength and Arjuna in skill, an army truly formidable and battle-worthy.
Across Bhedābheda, and the modern voicesRamsukhdas · BhāskaraIn Ramsukhdas and Bhāskara’s words
The cumulative point of the verse, drawn out most fully by the modern reader, is the sheer martial weight being assembled. Taking the surrounding verses together, these are no ordinary fighters: they carry great bows, which requires great strength to draw and to release, and an arrow loosed by such a warrior with full force does heavy execution. They are described as equals of Bhima and Arjuna in battle, equal to Bhima in strength and to Arjuna in skill at arms. The list is therefore not idle detail; it conveys that the army facing Duryodhana is formidable, brave, and battle-worthy.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
Carry this with youwhat stays
Return to this verse over the coming days. Read once, it stays a phrase; sat with, it begins to settle.
Let the long list stand as it is, a naming of those who came to fight, before you ask it to mean anything more.
Read deeper
Everything a full study holds, folded below.
Word by word
All the commentary, woven together
The commentary, woven together
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
his verse continues Sanjaya's roll call of the great warriors fighting on the Pandava side. It is a list of names: Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, the valiant king of Kashi (Varanasi), Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Shaibya. The commentators treat the verse first and foremost as exactly that, a naming of further chiefs added to the warriors already mentioned in the previous verses. One Advaita reader simply notes that the verse is plain, and another counts that it lists six names, signaling that the line works at the level of plain narration before it works at any level of meaning.
Śrī Ānandagiri · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Most of these names are taken to be straightforward proper names that carry their own sense and need no unpacking. One commentator states the principle directly: many of these names are mere designations, self-explanatory, and so not worth expounding; only those names where some special point emerges on following out the sense are explained at all. So the verse is not meant to be mined for hidden doctrine in every word. It is a muster, and the names function largely as names.
Śrī Bhāskara
Where the commentators do pause, it is over the descriptive epithets attached to certain warriors, and several read these epithets the same way. The king of Kashi is called valiant or valorous, which is glossed as being endowed with the power of energy and firm resolve. Shaibya is called a 'bull among men,' an idiom for the best or foremost of men, here explained as fitting him because he is joined to the highest warrior-qualities such as valor. Some names are even read for their built-in meaning: Purujit is so named because he conquers much, that is, conquers many; Kuntibhoja is the one who dwells among the Kunti people; Shaibya is the king of the Shivi people.
Śrī Bhāskara · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī
The cumulative point of the verse, drawn out most fully by the modern reader, is the sheer martial weight being assembled. Taking the surrounding verses together, these are no ordinary fighters: they carry great bows, which requires great strength to draw and to release, and an arrow loosed by such a warrior with full force does heavy execution. They are described as equals of Bhima and Arjuna in battle, equal to Bhima in strength and to Arjuna in skill at arms. The list is therefore not idle detail; it conveys that the army facing Duryodhana is formidable, brave, and battle-worthy.
Swami Ramsukhdas · Śrī Bhāskara
Divergence
Here the commentators are of one mind.
A Seeker Asks
Why does the Gita spend whole verses simply listing warrior names, and what is a spiritual seeker supposed to take from a battlefield roster?
The honest answer the commentators give is that much of this verse is plain narration, not hidden teaching. Most of the names are ordinary proper names that carry their own sense, and one commentator says outright that such self-explanatory designations are not worth expounding; only the few names with a special meaning get explained at all. So a seeker is not missing some secret here. The line is doing the work of setting the scene.
Śrī Ānandagiri · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrī Bhāskara
What the roster does accomplish is to establish the real weight of the moment. These are warriors equal to Bhima in strength and to Arjuna in skill, men who carry great bows and whose arrows do heavy execution. By naming them one after another, the text makes the coming battle concrete and formidable rather than abstract. The crisis Arjuna is about to face is genuine, and the size and gravity of that crisis is exactly what makes the teaching that follows necessary.
Swami Ramsukhdas · Śrī Bhāskara
All the translations and commentary
Pull up a chair.
You have come to sit with this verse. When you are ready to hear the translators and the commentators in full, tap a name in The seating.