Devanagari
यदि मामप्रतीकारमशस्त्रं शस्त्रपाणयः ।
धार्तराष्ट्रा रणे हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेमतरं भवेत् ॥ ४५ ॥
Verse text
yadi mām apratīkāram
aśastraṁ śastra-pāṇayaḥ
dhārtarāṣṭrā raṇe hanyus
tan me kṣema-taraṁ bhavet
Synonyms
yadi
—
even if
;
mām
—
me
;
apratīkāram
—
without being resistant
;
aśastram
—
without being fully equipped
;
śastra-pāṇayaḥ
—
those with weapons in hand
;
dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ
—
the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra
;
raṇe
—
on the battlefield
;
hanyuḥ
—
may kill
;
tat
—
that
;
me
—
for me
;
kṣema-taram
—
better
;
bhavet
—
would be.
Translation
Better for me if the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, weapons in hand, were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
45. It would be better for me if the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, weapons in hand, were to kill me without weapons and without opposition.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
45. It would be better for me if the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, weapons in hand, were to kill me without weapons and without opposition.
Translation (Bhurijana Dasa)
Better for me if the sons of Dhrtarastra, weapons in hand, were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.
(cn/DS) To beg, for a ksatriya, is not part of his culture. And Arjuna is saying that is better for him to beg and suffer complete humiliation in this life then to have to kill all those kinsmen and then suffer all the reactions for all the sins that will make him suffer for thousands and thousands of years.
Purport
It is the custom – according to kṣatriya fighting principles – that an unarmed and unwilling foe should not be attacked. Arjuna, however, decided that even if attacked by the enemy in such an awkward position, he would not fight. He did not consider how much the other party was bent upon fighting. All these symptoms are due to soft-heartedness resulting from his being a great devotee of the Lord.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
“Even if you are disinclined to fight, Bhīṣma and others are inclined to fight and will kill you. So what is to be done?”
“Not opposing them will be my prāyaścitta for the sin of thinking of killing relatives. This is most beneficial (kṣemataram), removing sin just by this prāyaścitta at the end of life (when they kill me.) And Bhīsma and others will also not incur sin by killing me in this manner.”