Gita : Ch-1. Slo-15 & 16.

Srimad Bhagavad-Gita :


Chapter- 1.


Slokam-15. ( Then, Lord Krishna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanyam; Arjuna blew his, the Devadattam; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of Herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell called Paundram. )



pancajanyam    hrshikesah   devadattam   dhananjayah,



paundram    dadhmau     bhimakarma    vrkodarah.




hrshikesah   pancajanyam   =   Lord Sri Krishna with  His   conchshell   namely   pancajanyam;

dhananjayah    devadattam   =   Arjuna   with  his   conchshell   namely   devadattam;

bhimakarma    vrkodarah   =   Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of Herculean tasks;

paundram    mahasamkham   dadhmau   =   with his  conchshell  called  paundram,   blewloudly along with Arjuna   and  Sri Krishna.



Now the names of the conch shells sounded by the Supreme Lord Krishna, Arjuna and Bhima are being described. The names Dhananjaya is used for Arjuna and means winner of wealth. The name Vikroda is used for Bhima and can mean he of terrible deeds or he whose appetite is voracious just like a wolf's. 


Pancajanya is the name of Lord Krishna's divine, transcendental conch shell and the other names mentioned are the conch shells of the five Pandavas. This signifies that there were many such divine conch shells present on the side of the Pandavas but on the side of the Kauravas there were not any and so none were mentioned. By referring to Lord Krishna as Hrsikesa, the director of everyone's senses it is indicative that with the Supreme Lord directing their cause victory was certain for the Pandavas. The use of the name dhanajaya for Arjuna meaning conqueror of riches indicates that he would conquer all the wealth by defeating all the rich and powerful kings arrayed against him on the battlefield and with the word karma meaning reactions to actions added to the name of Bhima refers to his slaying the demon Hidamba after he and his mother and brothers were forced to flee their burning house instigated by Duryodhana and indicates what is in store for him in the future. 


In order to subtly convey the superiority of the Pandavas, Sanjaya expresses in this verse beginning with the word pancajanyam which is the name of Lord Krishna's transcendental conch shell and then mentions the names of the divine conch shells of Arjuna and Bhima. 



Lord Krishna is referred to as Hrishikesa in this verse because He is the owner of all senses. The living entities are part and parcel of Him, and, therefore, the senses of the living entities are also part and parcel of His senses. The impersonalists cannot account for the senses of the living entities, and therefore they are always anxious to describe all living entities as sense-less, or impersonal. The Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their senses. But, He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity, and in the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses. Here on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra the Lord directly controls the transcendental senses of Arjuna, and thus His particular name of Hrishikesa. The Lord has different names according to His different activities. For example, His name is Madhusudana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses; His name is Vasudeva because He appeared as the son of Vasudeva; His name is Devaki-nandana because He accepted Devakī as His mother; His name is Yasoda-nandana because He awarded His childhood pastimes to Yasoda at Vrindavana; His name is Partha-sarathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend Arjuna. Similarly, His name is Hrishikesa because He gave direction to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra.



Arjuna is referred to as Dhananjaya in this verse because he helped his elder brother in fetching wealth when it was required by the King to make expenditures for different sacrifices. Similarly, Bhima is known as Vrkodara because he could eat as voraciously as he could perform Herculean tasks, such as killing the demon Hidimba. So, the particular types of conch shell blown by the different personalities on the side of the Pandavas, beginning with the Lord's, were all very encouraging to the fighting soldiers. On the other side there were no such credits, nor the presence of Lord Krishna, the supreme director, nor that of the goddess of fortune. So, they were predestined to lose the battle—and that was the message announced by the sounds of the conchshells.


Slokam-16 (  King Yudhisthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conchshell, the Anantavijayam, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughoshma and Manipushpakam.)



anantavijayam    raja    kuntiputro    yudhishthira,



nakulah    sahadevasca    sughoshamanipushpakau.




kuntiputrah   raja   yudhishthira   =   King Yudhishthira,   son  of  Kunti;

anantavijayam   =   with his conchshell    anantavijayam;

nakulah    sahadevas   ca   =   Nakula   and   Sahadeva   too;

sughosham   manipushpam  kau   =   along with their   elder  brother   King,   blew   conchshells, called    sughosham   and   
manipushpakam  respectively.


Hrishikesa [Krishna as the Lord of the Senses] blew the Pancajanyam, Arjuna the Devadattam and the herculean Bhima, the voracious eater, blew the Paundram. The king, the son of Kunti [Yudhishthhira, the eldest Pândava] blew Ananta-vijayam while Nakula and Sahadeva [the twin brother Pândava's] blew the Sughosham and Manipushpakam. 

Blowing  of Counchshells   is   the sign   start of battle.

To be continued ...