In Chap­ter I of the Bha­gavad-Gita, Dhri­ti­rash­tra, the blind king, inquires of his char­i­o­teer San­jaya about the events unfold­ing on the sacred bat­tle­field of Kuruk­shetra, where his sons (the Kau­ravas) and the Pan­davas are arrayed for war. San­jaya describes the scene, con­vey­ing the might and readi­ness of both armies. Dury­o­d­hana, the Kau­ra­va prince, par­tic­u­lar­ly notes the for­mi­da­ble array of Pan­da­va war­riors and their allies, empha­siz­ing the chal­lenge they pose. In response, he reviews his own war­riors, high­light­ing their val­or and readi­ness for bat­tle.

As the conch­es and war instru­ments sound, sig­nal­ing the start of hos­til­i­ties, an epic scene unfurls. Key war­riors on both sides blow their conch­es, con­tribut­ing to the atmos­phere of impend­ing war. Among them, Krish­na and Arju­na, on their mag­nif­i­cent char­i­ot, stand ready. Arju­na, the Pan­da­va prince, requests Krish­na, who is also his char­i­o­teer and divine guide, to place their char­i­ot between the two armies. He desires a clos­er look at those he is about to fight against, includ­ing many rel­a­tives and revered fig­ures.

Upon view­ing the assem­bly of fam­i­ly mem­bers and loved ones on both sides, Arju­na is over­come with deep sor­row and com­pas­sion. He argues the futil­i­ty of the war, express­ing his reluc­tance to kill his kin for the sake of pow­er or a king­dom. Arju­na’s moral dilem­ma deep­ens, high­light­ing his inter­nal con­flict between duty as a war­rior (Ksha­triya) and his love for his fam­i­ly. He rea­sons against war, con­sid­er­ing the destruc­tion of fam­i­ly order and the sin of killing kin as too great a cost for vic­to­ry. As he con­tem­plates the con­se­quences of the bat­tle, includ­ing the dis­rup­tion of soci­etal and famil­ial norms, Arju­na’s resolve fal­ters. He voic­es his refusal to fight, cast­ing aside his weapons and suc­cumb­ing to despair and con­fu­sion, thus set­ting the stage for the teach­ings that fol­low in the Gita. This cru­cial moment empha­sizes the themes of duty, right­eous­ness, and the moral and eth­i­cal strug­gles that define human life.