Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 1/Verse 1

Chapter 1/Verse 1

धृतराष्ट्र उवाच

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।

मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय ॥१-१॥

dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca

dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ ।

māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāścaiva kimakurvata saṃjaya ॥1-1॥

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said:

On the field of dharma, on the field of Kuru, the followers of my sons and indeed the sons-of-Pāṇḍu are assembled desirous to fight. What did they do, Saṃjaya?

dhṛtarāṣṭras (stem form: dhṛtarāṣṭra) (masculine, nominative, singular) = Dhṛtarāṣṭra (the blind king)

uvāca (verb root: vac) (perfect, parasmaipada, 3rd person, singular) = one said 

dharmakṣetre (stem form: dharmakṣetra) (dharma + kṣetre) (tatpurūṣa compound, neuter, locative , singular) = on the field of dharma 

kurukṣetre (stem form: kurukṣetra) (kuru + kṣetre) (tatpurūṣa compound, neuter, locative, singular) = on the field of Kuru (clan of Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

samavetās (verb root: i) (sam + ava + i) (past passive participle, masculine, nominative, plural) = they are assembled

yuyutsavas (stem form: yudh) (nominal desiderative, masculine, nominative, plural) = desirous to fight   

māmakās (stem form: māmaka) (masculine, nominative, plural with nominal derivatives) = followers of my sons

pāṇḍavās (stem form: pāṇḍava) (masculine, nominative, plural, with a nominal derivative) = sons-of-Pāṇḍu, political and warring enemies of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and the Kauravas

ca (conjunction) (indeclinable) = and

eva (adverb) (indeclinable) = indeed

kim (interrogative) (indeclinable) = what

akurvata (irregular verb root: kṛ)  (imperfect, ubhayapada, 3rd person, plural) = did they do

saṃjaya (stem form: saṃjaya) (masculine, vocative, singular) = O’ Saṃjaya (preceptor of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and the narrator of the Bhagavad Gita)

This verse sets the scene of the Bhagavad Gita with Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the blind king, asking Saṃjaya, preceptor of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and the narrator of Bhagavad Gita, to tell him what the two forces, desirous to fight, did.

“On the field of dharma” is cryptic. Dharma is a word with many meanings and difficult to translate into English. In its simplest of definitions, it can mean “right action” or “one’s purpose in life.” Is this verse stating the obvious that dharma is being played out on this battlefield or is it “on the field of dharma” a euphemism for “the field of Pāṇḍavās” were the Pāṇḍavās are located on the battlefield and “the field of Kuru” being where the Kuru army is located on the battlefield? It is definitely ambiguous and that is why most translators tend to leave words like dharma untranslated. Words like dharma are rich soil for large commentaries. There are many opinions as to what this section of the verse means.  

For people not familiar with the Sanskrit language, there is no set word order in a Sanskrit sentence. Only compounds require a strict word order.

One will find “māmaka” in the dictionary defined as “mine,” but I think we should go a little deeper with the word to drawn out a more proper definition. “Mama” is a 1st person, genitive, singular pronoun meaning “of me” or “mine.” Two nominative derivatives are added to this pronoun. One is the lengthening of the initial vowel of the pronoun that indicates the derivative is a genealogical descendant of the pronoun in this verse, so “māma” means “sons of mine.” The “ka” suffix indicates something is a follower of the derived noun, so in this case “māmakās” means “followers of my sons.” This pronoun with two nominal derivatives has a masculine, nominative, plural case ending of “as” added to  “māmaka” to make “māmakās.”