A story moment · grounding in mood · easy to enter
“The war begins to answer back in sound.”
King Yudhishthira, son of Kunti, blew the Anantavijaya; Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosha and Manipushpaka.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyAnantavijaya · king · son of Kunti · Yudhishthira · Nakula · Sahadeva · and · Sughosha and Manipushpaka
Yudhishthira, Nakula, and Sahadeva blow their conches. The verse adds to the battle scene and names their sacred war horns.
Sanjaya speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Arjuna Vishada Yoga" (The Yoga of Arjuna's Despair).
Verse 16 sits in Chapter 1 of the Bhagavad Gita — Arjuna Vishada Yoga, "The Yoga of Arjuna's Despair". The chapter has 47 verses in total.
The room goes quiet before the announcement. One voice follows another, and everyone feels the pressure rise before a hard beginning.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from individual heroes to the full force gathering on one side.
What this verse means
Yudhishthira, Nakula, and Sahadeva blow their conches. The verse adds to the battle scene and names their sacred war horns.
Context & commentary
On Kurukshetra, the Pāṇḍava brothers stand ready beside Krishna and Arjuna. After Krishna and Arjuna sound their conches, Yudhishthira, Nakula, and Sahadeva answer with their own. The verse keeps building the charged scene before the fighting begins.
Why this verse still matters
The room goes quiet before the announcement. One voice follows another, and everyone feels the pressure rise before a hard beginning.
“The battlefield is filling with sound, and both sides are being drawn into the moment.”
Explore related themes: kurukshetra (95 verses), battlefield (20 verses)