Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 27
श्वशुरान्सुहृदश्चैव सेनयोरुभयोरपि।
तान्समीक्ष्य स कौन्तेयः सर्वान्बन्धूनवस्थितान्।।
तान्समीक्ष्य स कौन्तेयः सर्वान्बन्धूनवस्थितान्।।
tān samīkṣya sa kaunteyaḥ sarvān bandhūn avasthitān
kṛpayā parayāviṣṭo viṣīdann idam abravīt
also searched as "shvashuran suhridash chaiva senayor ubhayor api"
Translation
Fathers-in-law and dear friends in both armies, when Arjuna saw all these kinsmen arrayed,
Vāṇi's rendering
He saw fathers-in-law and old companions in both armies — all his kin, assembled. Pity overwhelmed him, and he spoke.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्वशुरान्śvaśurān | fathers-in-law |
| सुहृदःsuhṛdaḥ | well-wishers, old companions |
| चca | and |
| एवeva | indeed (joined as caiva by sandhi) |
| सेनयोःsenayoḥ | of the armies |
| उभयोःubhayoḥ | of both |
| अपिapi | also, alike |
| तान्tān | them |
| समीक्ष्यsamīkṣya | having looked closely, having taken them all in |
| सःsa | he |
| कौन्तेयःkaunteyaḥ | Kunti's son, Arjuna |
| सर्वान्sarvān | all of them |
| बन्धून्bandhūn | kinsmen, those bound to him |
| अवस्थितान्avasthitān | standing there, arrayed |
| कृपयाkṛpayā | with pity, with tenderness |
| परयाparayā | utmost, overwhelming |
| आविष्टःāviṣṭaḥ | entered into, possessed (parayā + āviṣṭaḥ joined by sandhi) |
| विषीदन्viṣīdan | sinking, sorrowing |
| इदम्idam | this |
| अब्रवीत्abravīt | he said |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 27 mean?
Arjuna finishes surveying the two armies and finds fathers-in-law and lifelong friends standing on both sides. Seeing them all at once as kin rather than combatants, he is filled with kṛpā — pity so complete it enters him like a guest — and he begins to speak. The collapse that fills the rest of the chapter starts here.
What does 'shvashuran suhridash chaiva senayor ubhayor api' mean?
Fathers-in-law and dear friends, in both armies alike. The word ubhayoḥ — both — is the wound. Arjuna's affections are not on one side of the field; they are spread across it. Whichever way he shoots, he strikes someone who has eaten at his table. That is why no strategy can help him now.
Why is Arjuna called Kaunteya in this verse?
Kaunteya means Kunti's son. Sanjaya reaches for the mother's name at the exact moment Arjuna stops being a warrior and becomes a relative among relatives. The name places him inside the web he is about to tear. When grief takes you, it usually takes you back to whose child you are.
Is Arjuna's pity here a strength or a weakness?
It is love arriving without discernment. Krishna will not mock it, but He will not leave Arjuna inside it either. Feeling for these faces is not the error; concluding from the feeling that nothing can rightly be done is. Tenderness is where the Gītā begins, not where it ends.
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Commentary
The list ends with fathers-in-law and old friends. Not warriors — in-laws, the people you sit beside at weddings. Arjuna has been scanning both armies for enemies and keeps finding relatives instead. Then the seeing changes: he stops counting faces and takes them in all at once, standing, arrayed, waiting. That is when pity floods him. Krishna has not yet spoken a word. Sanjaya calls him Kaunteya, Kunti's son, because grief has returned him to his mother's house, to being someone's child among his own. You know that moment. The argument dissolves and only the faces remain.