Chapter 1 Arjunavishada yoga- Summary

 

Om| May the Lord Ganapati bestow his blessings upon the seeker to understand the Geetashastra as it needs to be understood||

    To understand this chapter, let us understand the circumstance of the war in brief. Dhrutarashtra and Pandu are brothers. Dhrutarasthtra is the elder one, but he is blind. Pandu is the stronger one, but is cursed by some sage that he would die the moment he physically indulges with his wife. Distraught by the curse, Pandu goes to Himalayas along with his two wives- Kunti and Madri. The kingdom now falls in the hands of the blind king- Dhrutarasthra. 

In the meantime, Pandu's wife, Kunti has a boon that she can beget children from anyone she desires just by reciting a mantra. Pandu, on learning this, asks her to invoke devatas to father her children. Kunti first calls Yama- the keeper of Dharma and prays for a son. Thus she bears his child who is later named as Yudhishtira or Dharmaraja. Next, she gets a son from the powerful, Vayu and names him Bheema. Next, she gets a son from the charming Indra and names him Arjuna. Kunti teaches the same mantra to Madri to use it only once to invoke a devata of her choice. Smart Madri invokes Ashwini devatas and begets two sons- Nakula and Sahadeva. These five are officially the sons of Pandu- the Pandavas. 

    In Hastinapur, the king Dhritarasthra begets 100 sons and a daughter from his wife, Gandhari. They are together known as Dhartarashtras. The eldest one is Duryodhana who is the reason behind the entire Mahabharata. He is adamant, selfish, jealous and intolerant. 

In the Himalayas, after few years, Pandu smitten by Madri, tries to unite with her on one occasion and as per the curse, dies. Madri too sacrifices herself in his funeral pyre. Orphaned Pandavas along with their widowed mother are called back to Hastinapur. Here, they are given shelter by their uncle- Dhritarashtra. It must be emphasized here that, though they are rightfully the sons of Pandu and have every right to enjoy the regalities, deep down they are still considered by many as the sons of devatas and not as the biological sons of Pandu. This has a huge impact on them as they always feel burdened by the privileges given to them by their uncle and don't consider them as their right. But the Pandavas are the epitome of righteousness, strength and love. They are loved by the elders, Bheeshma, the Gurus Dronacharya and Krupacharya and their well-wisher Vidura, Duryodhana is always jealous of this. His character is dominated by jealousy. 

    The story goes on driven by greed, jealousy, luxury, love and lust. After years of enduring all the pain, Pandavas confront Dhartarashtras in Kurukshetra. Krishna, the Lord, is the charioteer of Arjuna. On the first day of the war, when Arjuna who has been confident of his victory all this while, suddenly on seeing all his beloved relatives like Bheeshma, Drona, gathered for war against him, cannot contain his anguish. His conviction towards the war seems baseless as this war is not just a demonstration of his valour, but it is a reality where people die. They all have gathered here with a motive to kill. As long as Bheeshma is alive, he won't allow Dhartarasthra's to lose. As long as Drona is alive, he will protect the Dhartarashtras. And the Dhartarashtras themselves are Arjuna's cousins. However much, they might have troubled them, Arjuna wants to flaunt his victory to them. But, in this decisive war, victory requires the death of Bheeshma, Drona and all the Dhartarashtras. Arjuna is befuddled by the idea of victory.

    To justify his internal qualms, he tries to rationalize the irrationality of the war by explaining the social consequences of war. Any war disrupts the existing social order as we have experienced in our times. There will be loss of working force for other occupations once men die in the war. The helpless women, children and widows of the soldiers will be exploited by other men. Family occupations, traditions and familial art-forms will all lose their existence and identity. All this for what? For Pandavas to regain their lost land. This idea seems baseless to Arjuna. Pandavas are too good to sacrifice lives and social order for their own pleasure. 

At the end of  the first chapter, Arjuna's resolve to fight the war is totally lost, he is uncertain of  the necessity of the war and devastated by the thought of death of his near and dear ones.