Sanskrit
रूपं महत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रम् महाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादम् । बहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालम् दृष्ट्वा लोका प्रव्यथितास्तथाऽहम् ॥
rūpaṃ mahat te bahuvaktranetraṃ mahābāho bahubāhūrupādam bahūdaraṃ bahudaṃṣṭrākarālaṃ dṛṣṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitās tathāham
Translation
Thy mighty Form, with many mouths and eyes, long armed, with thighs and feet innumerate, vast-bosomed, set with many fearful teeth, the worlds see terror-struck, as also I.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna finally names his own state plainly — “pravyathitās tathāham,” the worlds are terrified, and so am I — folding himself into the same frightened crowd he’s just spent two verses describing. This is a small but real turn in the confession: up to now he’s been reporting what he sees; here, for the first time in the chapter, he reports what he feels, and the two are given equal narrative weight in the same sentence. Pravyathitās tathāham — “the worlds tremble, and so do I” — Arjuna folds himself into the frightened crowd he has been describing. For the first time in the chapter he reports what he feels, given equal weight with what he sees.
Study deeper
Word by word
- rūpaṃ mahat te bahuvaktranetraṃरूपं महत् ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं
- your mighty form with many mouths and eyes (rūpam + mahat + te + bahu-vaktra-netram)
- mahābāho bahubāhūrupādamमहाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादं
- O mighty-armed, with many arms, thighs, and feet (mahā-bāho + bahu-bāhu-ūru-pādam)
- bahūdaraṃ bahudaṃṣṭrākarālaṃबहूदरं बहुदंष्ट्राकरालं
- with many bellies, fearsome with many tusks (bahu-udaram + bahu-daṃṣṭrā-karālam)
- dṛṣṭvā lokāḥ pravyathitās tathāhamदृष्ट्वा लोकाः प्रव्यथितास् तथाहं
- seeing which, the worlds tremble, and so do I (dṛṣṭvā + lokāḥ + pravyathitāḥ + tathā + aham)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Notice the order inside the sentence itself: the catalog of terrifying features comes first, and only in the final two words — “tathāham,” and so am I — does Arjuna admit his own state. That ordering isn’t unique to this verse; across his whole outpouring he consistently reports the external vision in full before naming what it’s doing to him, as if the feeling only earns its place in the sentence once the evidence for it has been laid out first.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you're trying to name a hard feeling to yourself or someone else, it can help to first lay out plainly what actually triggered it before naming the feeling itself — the feeling often becomes easier to own once its cause has been stated in full.
Professional
- When raising a concern to leadership, present the concrete evidence in full before you name your own worry about it — the feeling lands as credible once the facts that produced it are already on the table, rather than the other way around.
Family & Social
- When telling someone close to you how something made you feel, try describing the situation fully first, then name the feeling last — it often lands more clearly than opening with the emotion before the other person has the full picture.
Ask yourself
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