Chapter1 Verse - 20

 

Verse 20

 

अथ व्यवस्थितान्दृष्ट्वा धार्तराष्ट्रान् कपिध्वज: |
प्रवृत्ते शस्त्रसम्पाते धनुरुद्यम्य पाण्डव: |
हृषीकेशं तदा वाक्यमिदमाह महीपते ||20||

Transliteration

atha vyavasthitAn drishtvA dhArtarAshtrAn kapidhvajaH

pravritte shastrasampAte dhanurudyamya pAndavaH

Hrishikesham tadA vAkyam idamAha mahIpate..20..

                Click here to listen to the verse

word by word meaning

 अथ – then; व्यवस्थितान् – the people who are there for a purpose;दृष्ट्वा- seeing; धार्तराष्ट्रान् – the sons of Dhritharashtra; कपिध्वज: - the one with Hanuman(monkey) in his flag; प्रवृत्ते – (when he was about to) engage; शस्त्रसम्पाते -  to release the weapons; धनुरुद्यम्य – having taken bow in his arms; पाण्डव: - Arjuna; हृषीकेशं – to Hrishikesha;तदा – then;वाक्यम्-  the sentence; इदमाह – said; महीपते – ruler of earth॥२०॥

Meaning:

Then on seeing the people, who have gathered there for a purpose, Arjuna, the Son of Pandu, who has Hanuman in his flag, who is ready to release the weapon, on taking the bow in his arms, uttered this sentence to Hrishikesha.

Significance:

                         Just at the moment when the Kaurava army was getting back the momentum, Arjuna raised his invincible bow, Gandiva , and uttered these words to Krishna. The word “kapi-dvaja – is mentioned here as another indication of victory to the pAndava-s. Hanuman is a personification of strength. Hanuman, has performed mighty tasks for Sri Rama. Having Hanuman in the flag indicates that pAndava-s has the blessings of this mighty Hero.

                   There is a legend attached to this : Once during a conversation between Shri Krishna and Arjuna. Arjuna boasted of hs archery skills. He even wondered why Monkeys struggled a lot during the period of Ramayana to build a bridge, while he can build a much more stronger bridge with his arrows in a very little time with very little effort. Krishna wanted to teach Arjuna a lesson. So he asked Arjuna to construct a bridge with his arrows. He too did so. Shri Krishna called Hanuman and asked to test the strength of the bridge. Hanuman stepped on the bridge by uttering  “Jai ShriRam”, the bridge broke down into pieces. Now Shri Krishna gave another chance to Arjuna, he built the bridge of arrows by uttering “Jai ShriKrishna” , when Hanuman stepped on it the bridge did not break. Arjuna realised the power comes not from his skill but from the Name of the Supreme. Hanuman blessed Arjuna and promised him that he will shower his blessing by taking the place in his flag.