Bhagavad Gita 11.23 Meaning: Rupam mahatte bahuvaktranetram

Bhagavad Gita 11.23

रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रम् महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम् ।बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालम् दृष्ट्वा लोकाः प्रव्यथितास्तथाऽहम् ॥

Rupam mahatte bahuvaktranetram mahabaho bahubahurupadamBahudaram bahudanshtrakaralam drishtva lokah pravyathitastathaham

rūpaṃ mahatte bahuvaktranetram mahābāho bahubāhūrupādam |bahūdaraṃ bahudaṃṣṭrākarālam dṛṣṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitāstathā’ham ||

How to read these English letters (IAST)

Our explanation Arjuna calls Krishna mighty-armed. Seeing his great form, with many mouths and eyes, many arms, thighs and feet, many bellies and many fearsome teeth, he says, the worlds are shaken, and so is he. In verses 23 to 30 Arjuna describes the form as he sees it; the descriptions are his words.

हिंदी अर्थ अर्जुन कृष्ण को महाबाहु कहते हैं। वे कहते हैं कि अनेक मुखों और नेत्रों, अनेक भुजाओं, जंघाओं और पैरों, अनेक उदरों और अनेक विकराल दाढ़ों वाले इस विशाल रूप को देखकर लोक व्यथित हैं, और वे स्वयं भी। श्लोक 23 से 30 तक अर्जुन उस रूप का वर्णन वैसे करते हैं जैसे वे उसे देख रहे हैं; ये वर्णन उनके अपने शब्द हैं।

Word by word

Every word, with its dictionary page

Word by word

रूपम् rūpam · form (noun (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: rūpa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 885, col. 3 “form, shape, figure”
महत् mahat · great, vast (adjective (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: mahat, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 794, col. 2 “great (in space, time, quantity or degree)”
ते te · your (pronoun, genitive singular) Dictionary: yuṣmad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 855, col. 3 “the base of the 2nd pers. pron. as used in comp.”
बहुवक्त्रनेत्रम् bahuvaktranetram · with many mouths and eyes (compound (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: bahu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 724, col. 2 “much, many, frequent, abundant, numerous”; vaktra, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 912, col. 2 “‘organ of speech,’ the mouth, face”; netra, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 568, col. 3 “the eye”
महाबाहो mahābāho · O mighty-armed one (Krishna) (compound (masculine), vocative singular) Dictionary: mahā-bāhu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 798, col. 1 “long-armed”
बहुबाहूरुपादम् bahubāhūrupādam · with many arms, thighs and feet (compound (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: bahu-bāhu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 725, col. 2 “many-armed”; ūru, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 221, col. 2 “the thigh, shank”; pāda, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 617, col. 1 “the foot (of men and animals)”
बहूदरम् bahūdaram · with many bellies (compound (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: bahu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 724, col. 2 “much, many, frequent, abundant, numerous”; udara, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 184, col. 2 “the belly, abdomen, stomach, bowels”
बहुदंष्ट्राकरालम् bahudaṃṣṭrākarālam · fearsome with many tusks (compound (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: bahu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 724, col. 2 “much, many, frequent, abundant, numerous”; daṃṣṭrā-karāla, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 464, col. 3 “having terrible tusks”
दृष्ट्वा dṛṣṭvā · having seen (absolutive (having done)) Dictionary: 1. dṛś, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 491, col. 2 “to see, behold, look at, regard, consider”
लोकाः lokāḥ · the worlds, people (noun (masculine), nominative plural) Dictionary: loka, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 906, col. 1 “the wide space or world”
प्रव्यथिताः pravyathitāḥ · are shaken (past participle (masculine), nominative plural) Dictionary: pra-vyathita, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 694, col. 2 “affrighted, distressed, pained”
तथा tathā · so too (indeclinable) Dictionary: tathā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 433, col. 3 “in that manner, so, thus”
अहम् aham · "I" (Arjuna) (pronoun, nominative singular) Dictionary: aham, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 124, col. 2 “nom. sg. ‘I,’”

3 printings differ

Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.

The printed edition reads: रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रम् महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम् ।
बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालम् दृष्ट्वा लोका प्रव्यथितास्तथाऽहम् ॥ The print has लोका with no visarga before प्रव्यथिताः; the visarga is restored (लोकाः), because sandhi keeps it before प्र and the form without it breaks the grammar. Both proofreading references read लोकाः, and so do Telang ('all people … are much alarmed') and Besant ('The worlds see').
Spelling The 1922 Madras printing reads: दृष्ट्वा लोका प्रव्यथितास्तथाऽहम् The 1922 base printing (leaf n170) has लोका with no visarga, a printing flaw; see normalisations.
Spelling A digital text reads Same words. At the printed line ends the 1922 edition writes नेत्रम् and करालम्, and it marks the merged vowel in तथाऽहम्; the e-text writes नेत्रं, करालं and तथाहम्. (The edition's लोका is a printing flaw; see editionReading.)

Bhagavad Gita 11.23: meaning and translation

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