Shloka

निहत्य धार्तराष्ट्रान्नः का प्रीतिः स्याज्जनार्दन |
पापमेवाश्रयेदस्मान्हत्वैतानाततायिनः ||१-३६||

Transliteration

nihatya dhārtarāṣṭrānnaḥ kā prītiḥ syājjanārdana .
pāpamevāśrayedasmānhatvaitānātatāyinaḥ ||1-36||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

1.36. Nothing but sin would slay these desperadoes and take hold of us. Therefore we should not slay Dhrtarastra’s sons, our own relatives.

Shri Purohit Swami

1.36 My Lord! What happiness can come from the death of these sons of Dhritarashtra? We shall sin if we kill these desperate men.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

1.35 1.44 Nihatya etc. upto anususruma. Sin alone is the agent in the act of slaying these desperadoes. Therefore here the idea is this : These ememies of ours have been slain, i.e., have been take possession of, by sin. Sin would come to us also after slaying them. Sin in this context is the disregard, on account of greed etc., to the injurious conseences like the ruination of the family and the like. That is why Arjuna makes a specific mention of the [ruin of the] family etc., and of its duties in the passage ‘How by slaying my own kinsmen etc’.

The act of slaying, undertaken with an individualizing idea about its result, and with a particularizing idea about the person to be slain, is a great sin. To say this very thing precisely and to indicate the intensity of his own agony, Arjuna says only to himself [see next sloka]:

Sri Ramanuja

1.26 - 1.47 Arjuna said - Sanjaya said Sanjaya continued: The high-minded Arjuna, extremely kind, deeply friendly, and supremely righteous, having brothers like himself, though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people like burning in the lac-house etc., and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of the Supreme Person, nevertheless said, ‘I will not fight.’

He felt weak, overcome as he was by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was righteous and what unrighteous. His mind was tortured by grief, because of the thought of future separation from his relations. So he threw away his bow and arrow and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.

Sri Shankaracharya

1.36 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.

Swami Adidevananda

1.36 If we kill the sons of Dhrtarastra, what joy will be ours, O Krsna? Sin alone will accrue to us if we kill these murderous felons.

Swami Gambirananda

1.36 O Janardana, what happiness shall we derive by killing the sons of Dhrtarastra? Sin alone will accrue to us by killing these felons.

Swami Sivananda

1.36. By killing these sons of Dhritarashtra, what pleasure can be ours, O Janardana? Only sin will accrue to us from killing these felons.

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

1.36 निहत्य having slain? धार्तराष्ट्रान् sons of Dhritarashtra? नः to us? का what? प्रीतिः pleasure? स्यात् may be? जनार्दन O Janardana? पापम् sin? एव only? आश्रयेत् would take hold? अस्मान् to us? हत्वा having killed? एतान् these? आततायिनः felons.Commentary Janardana means one who is worshipped by all for prosperity and salvation – Krishna.He who sets fire to the house of another? who gives poision? who runs with sword to kill? who has plundered wealth and lands? and who has taken hold of the wife of somody else is an atatayi. Duryodhana had done all these evil actions.