Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 37
तस्मान्नार्हा वयं हन्तुं धार्तराष्ट्रान्स्वबान्धवान्।
स्वजनं हि कथं हत्वा सुखिनः स्याम माधव।।
स्वजनं हि कथं हत्वा सुखिनः स्याम माधव।।
tasmān nārhā vayaṁ hantuṁ dhārtarāṣṭrān sa-bāndhavān
sva-janaṁ hi kathaṁ hatvā sukhinaḥ syāma mādhava
also searched as "tasman narha vayam hantum dhartarashtran sa-bandhavan"
Translation
Therefore, it is not befitting for us to slay our kin, the sons of Dhrtarastra. For if we kill our kinsmen, O Krsna, how can we be happy?
Vāṇi's rendering
We must not kill our own kinsmen. How could we ever be happy, having slaughtered family?
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तस्मात्tasmāt | therefore |
| नna | not (joined to the next word by sandhi: nārhāḥ) |
| अर्हाःarhāḥ | fit, entitled, right in doing |
| वयम्vayam | we |
| हन्तुम्hantum | to kill |
| धार्तराष्ट्रान्dhārtarāṣṭrān | the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra |
| स-बान्धवान्sa-bāndhavān | along with their kinsmen |
| स्व-जनम्sva-janam | our own people, family |
| हिhi | indeed, surely |
| कथम्katham | how |
| हत्वाhatvā | having killed |
| सुखिनःsukhinaḥ | happy ones |
| स्यामsyāma | could we be |
| माधवmādhava | O Mādhava — Krishna, addressed by his family name |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 37 mean?
Arjuna concludes his case: killing kinsmen cannot lead anywhere worth arriving at. He looks past the battle to the life that follows it and finds no happiness waiting there. It is his most humane argument, and Krishna will spend the next chapter showing him what it hides — a grief that has dressed itself as principle.
What does the line tasman narha vayam hantum dhartarashtran mean?
"Therefore we are not fit to kill the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra." Tasmāt — therefore — is the word of someone who believes he has finished reasoning. Arjuna has built a case from consequences and now delivers its verdict. He is not asking Krishna a question here. He is announcing a decision he wants confirmed.
Why does Arjuna call Krishna Madhava in this verse?
Mādhava is a clan name, a kinsman's name. Arjuna has just argued that family must not be harmed, and he addresses Krishna as family in the same breath. It is a quiet appeal: you are one of us, you understand what blood means. Krishna hears it, and answers something deeper than the appeal.
Is Arjuna right that killing family can never bring happiness?
He is right that no happiness follows from an act done for gain. But he has assumed the act is his, and the fruit his to reckon. Krishna will not tell him slaughter is joyful. He will tell him the calculation itself is misplaced — that duty is not measured by the comfort it leaves behind.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Arjuna is no longer weighing whether he can win. He is asking what the winner has to live with. Killing is not the end of the act; the years after it are the act. He calls them svajana — our own people — and once that word is spoken, no victory can be clean. Notice too the name he uses: Mādhava, the family name, kinsman. He is appealing to Krishna as relative, not as charioteer. The reasoning is sound, and it is still fear wearing the clothes of conscience. You have made this argument yourself — about the thing you did not want to do.