Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 35
एतान्न हन्तुमिच्छामि घ्नतोऽपि मधुसूदन।
अपि त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्य हेतोः किं नु महीकृते।।
अपि त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्य हेतोः किं नु महीकृते।।
etān na hantum icchāmi ghnato ’pi madhusūdana
api trailokya-rājyasya hetoḥ kiṁ nu mahī-kṛte
also searched as "etan na hantum icchami ghnato 'pi madhusudana"
Translation
I would not slay them, even if they might slay me, for the sovereignty of the three worlds—how much less for this earth, O Krsna?
Vāṇi's rendering
I will not kill my own people even if they kill me — not for the three worlds, far less this earth.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एतान्etān | these men — the kinsmen standing before him |
| नna | not |
| हन्तुम्hantum | to kill |
| इच्छामिicchāmi | I wish, I am willing |
| घ्नतःghnataḥ | though they are killing me; sandhi with the next word gives ghnato 'pi |
| अपिapi | even |
| मधुसूदनmadhusūdana | O Madhusūdana, slayer of Madhu — Krishna |
| अपिapi | even, not even |
| त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्यtrailokya-rājyasya | of sovereignty over the three worlds |
| हेतोःhetoḥ | for the sake of, in exchange for |
| किम्kiṁ | what, how much |
| नुnu | then, indeed |
| महीकृतेmahī-kṛte | for the sake of the earth |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 35 mean?
Arjuna refuses to fight his kinsmen even if they strike him down first, and says no kingdom could buy that refusal — not rule over three worlds, certainly not this patch of earth. It is his most generous moment and his most closed one. Love speaks, and grief speaks with it, and the two are not yet told apart.
What does etan na hantum icchami ghnato 'pi madhusudana mean?
"These I have no wish to kill, even were they killing me." The word ghnataḥ imagines their weapons already raised against him and still he will not answer. He addresses Krishna as madhusūdana — the slayer — in the same breath. The address is innocent. It is also the crack in his position.
Is Arjuna right to refuse to kill his relatives?
His feeling is not wrong; Krishna never calls it wrong. What Krishna questions is the reasoning built on top of it. Arjuna has decided the whole matter while shaking, and he calls the decision compassion. Ask of your own firm refusals whether they rest on clear seeing or on a wish for the ache to stop.
Why does Arjuna mention the three worlds and the earth?
He is pricing his refusal, and setting the price beyond reach. If not even trailokya-rājyasya — sovereignty over all three worlds — could move him, then a kingdom of soil certainly cannot. The rhetoric is meant to end the conversation. Krishna lets it stand for one verse and then begins somewhere else entirely.
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Commentary
Arjuna has stopped arguing about consequences. Here he simply refuses — and he raises the price to make the refusal unmistakable: not for three worlds, not even if their arrows find me first. It sounds like the summit of love. It is also the moment his grief hardens into a vow, and a vow made in grief cannot be examined. Notice he calls Krishna madhusūdana, slayer of Madhu — the one who has killed — while announcing that he will not. Something in him already knows the objection. When you declare what you could never do, listen for the tremor under the certainty. That is where Krishna will begin.