Shloka 13
आचार्य-क्षमा, देśa–kāla-नīti, तथा भेद-दोषः
Teacher-Reconciliation, Timing-Policy, and the Fault of Factionalism
स त्वं कथमिहानेन शड्खशब्देन भीषित: । विवर्णरूपो वित्रस्त: पुरुष: प्राकृतो यथा
sa tvaṁ katham ihānena śaṅkhaśabdena bhīṣitaḥ | vivarṇarūpo vitrastaḥ puruṣaḥ prākṛto yathā ||
Arjuna sprach: „Wie kommt es, dass du dich hier vor diesem Klang des Muschelhorns fürchtest? Warum ist dein Antlitz erbleicht und du wirkst erschüttert — wie ein gewöhnlicher Mann, den die Furcht überwältigt?“
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical expectation of steadiness and courage in a crisis: fear that visibly overwhelms a person is portrayed as the mark of an untrained, ordinary man, implicitly urging self-control and kṣatriya-like composure in the face of martial signals.
In the Virāṭa episode’s war setting, a conch-blast is heard as hostilities loom. Arjuna addresses his companion, surprised that the conch-sound has made him visibly pale and shaken, questioning this sudden fearfulness.