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Pandavas
The side of the Bharata family that opposes Arjuna and the Pandavas. The Kauravas descend from the blind king Dhritarashtra, to whom Sanjaya narrates the Bhagavad Gita. At the beginning of the text, they outnumber the Pandavas, and Arjuna describes them as bloodthirsty.
Kauravas Quotes in The Bhagavad Gita
The The Bhagavad Gita quotes below are all either spoken by Kauravas or refer to Kauravas. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Discourse 1
Quotes
The great cry
tore the hearts
of the Sons
of Dhritarashtra
the tumult
made the sky
and the earth
resound.
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Explanation and Analysis:
I see no good
in killing
my people
in battle,
Lovely-Haired Krishna!
Krishna, I long
neither for victory
nor kingship
nor pleasures.
Lord of the Cows,
what is kingship to us,
what are delights,
or life itself?
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Kauravas Term Timeline in The Bhagavad Gita
The timeline below shows where the term Kauravas appears in The Bhagavad Gita. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Discourse 1
...the blind king of Hastinapura, asks his minister, Sanjaya, what happened when his sons (the Kauravas) met their cousins (the Pandavas) “in the field of dharma” to battle for the kingdom...
(full context)
...Pandavas’ horns are divine and specifically named, and their cry “tore the hearts” of the Kauravas, causing the earth and sky to shake.
(full context)
...Arjuna asks Krishna to bring their chariot between the armies. Arjuna gazes out on the Kauravas, asks whom he must fight first, and notes his enemies’ devotion to their cause. Krishna...
(full context)
...and power, Arjuna declares he would find “greater peace” were he to simply suffer the Kauravas’ attack unarmed. He drops his bow and arrow, “recoiling in grief.”
(full context)
Discourse 2
...eat a beggar’s food than fight them. It would be just as good for the Kauravas to win, Arjuna says, for he would not want to continue living even if the...
(full context)
Discourse 11
Arjuna saw all of the Bharatas, the Pandavas and Kauravas alike, enter Krishna’s mouth and get crushed between his teeth, like river currents running toward...
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Krishna proclaims that he has come “to destroy the worlds,” for the Pandavas and Kauravas will die regardless of Arjuna’s presence. So Arjuna must fight for his honor and kingdom,...
(full context)
