अथ व्यवस्थितान्दृष्ट्वा धार्तराष्ट्रान्कपिध्वजः ।प्रवृत्ते शस्त्रसम्पाते धनुरुद्यम्य पाण्डवः ॥
atha vyavasthitān dṛṣṭvā dhārtarāṣṭrān kapidhvajaḥ |pravṛtte śastrasampāte dhanur udyamya pāṇḍavaḥ ||
- अथ · atha
- now, then
- व्यवस्थितान् · vyavasthitān
- drawn up, standing ready
- दृष्ट्वा · dṛṣṭvā
- having seen
- धार्तराष्ट्रान् · dhārtarāṣṭrān
- the sons of Dhritarashtra
- कपिध्वजः · kapidhvajaḥ
- he of the monkey-banner (Arjuna; Hanuman on his flag)
- प्रवृत्ते · pravṛtte
- when about to begin, on the point of
- शस्त्रसम्पाते · śastrasampāte
- the flight of weapons, the exchange of missiles
- धनुः · dhanuḥ
- the bow
- उद्यम्य · udyamya
- having raised, lifting
- पाण्डवः · pāṇḍavaḥ
- the son of Pandu (Arjuna)
“Now, seeing Dhritarashtra's sons drawn up and the flight of weapons about to begin, Arjuna of the monkey-banner raised his bow…”
— Original plain-language translation
The sentence deliberately spills into the next verse — the bow goes up, and instead of loosing an arrow, Arjuna speaks. The epic's greatest archer pauses at the very brink; everything after hangs on that pause.
— Reader's notes (original)