Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 1/Verse 28

Chapter 1/Verse 28

कृपया परयाविष्टो विषीदन्निदमब्रवीत् ।

दृष्ट्वेमं स्वजनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम् ॥१-२८॥

kṛpayā parayāviṣṭo viṣīdannidamabravīt ।

dṛṣṭvemaṃ svajanaṃ kṛṣṇa yuyutsuṃ samupasthitam

॥1-28॥

Despondent filled with extreme compassion he said this, O’ Krishna, seeing a kinsman wishing to commence fighting,  

kṛpayā (stem form: kṛpā) (feminine, instrumental, singular) = with compassion

parayā (stem form: parā) (feminine, instrumental, singular) = extreme

āviṣṭas (verb root: viś) (past passive participle, masculine, nominative, singular) = was filled

viṣīdan (verb root: sad) (vi + ṣīdan) (present participle, masculine/neuter, nominative, singular) = despondent

idam (neuter, accusative, singular) = this

abravīt (irregular 1st class verb root: brū) (imperfect, parasmaipada, 3rd person, singular) = he said

dṛṣṭvā (verb root: dṛś) (gerund) (indeclinable) = having seen

imam (pronoun, accusative, singular) = this

svajanam (stem form: svajana) (masculine, accusative, singular) = kinsman

kṛṣṇa (stem form: kṛṣṇa) (masculine, vocative, singular) = O Krishna

yuyutsum (verb root: yudh) (desiderative adjective, masculine, accusative, singular) = wishing to fight

samupasthitam (verb root: sthā) (past passive participle, masculine, accusative, singular) = commence

The first part of the verse is easy. Arjuna feels deep compassion for both armies before him, but there are some major grammar and manuscript issues in the latter part of the verse with how previous translations interpret this verse to the point that there are different versions of the original Sanskrit script.

The latter part of the verse has three words:

"svajanam" meaning "a kinsman"

"yuyutsum" meaning "wishing to fight"

"samupasthitam" meaning "standing here before me"

These three words are all singular words and not plural words, but most of the translations interpret these words as if they are all plural to the point of changing the case endings of these words to be plural case endings in the Sanskrit text. Older Sanskrit manuscripts use the singular endings, but a recent Sanskrit manuscript has the plural endings. I prefer to use the older manuscripts and side with the singular case endings. I also go against most other translations and create a singular case ending interpretation for the latter part of this verse. Overall, these disagreements in translation do not change the story, but it is important to point it out.