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Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.4
kathaṃ bhīṣmam ahaṃ saṃkhye droṇaṃ ca madhusūdana | iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi pūjārhāv arisūdana
Translation. How shall I, in battle, O Slayer of Madhu,
fight with arrows against Bhīṣma and Droṇa—
those two worthy of reverence, O Destroyer of Foes?
Grammar check: 11 words pass / 1 flagged / 0 beyond the checkerPāṇini-verified
Every word's claimed grammar is re-derived with vidyut-prakriya, software implementing Pāṇini's rules. Flags are shown, never hidden; some are the text taking epic or Vedic liberties the classical rules do not generate.
Word by word
| surface | lemma | grammar |
|---|
| katham | katham | pass |
| bhīṣmam | bhīṣma | pass |
| aham | mad | pass |
| saṃkhye | saṃkhya | pass |
| droṇam | droṇa | pass |
| ca | ca | pass |
| madhusūdana | madhusūdana | pass |
| iṣubhiḥ | iṣu | pass |
| pratiyotsyāmi | yudh | fail |
| pūjārhau | pūjārha | pass |
| arisūdana | arisūdana | pass |
| arisūdana | arisūdana | pass |
How the commentary settled it
Where the verse alone is ambiguous, the reading follows Śaṅkara's commentary; the deciding lines are quoted below each decision.
Interpret saṃkhye as the locative “in battle,” not as a reference to reckoning or to the Sāṃkhya philosophical system.→ “In battle,” from the neuter locative-only martial sense recorded at [MW s.v. saṃkhya, 1128,1].
gita []
The commentary is silent; the decision rests on grammar and the supplied dictionary.
Take bhīṣmam and droṇam as coordinated accusative objects of pratiyotsyāmi, with iṣubhiḥ expressing the instrument.→ “Fight with arrows against Bhīṣma and Droṇa.” The prefixed verb prati-yudh may govern an accusative opponent [MW s.v. pratiyudh, 669,2], while iṣubhiḥ is straightforwardly instrumental plural.
gita []
The commentary is silent; the decision rests on case syntax and the supplied dictionary.
Analyze pūjārhāv as the externally sandhied form of the compound pūjārhau, accusative dual, rather than as pūjā followed by a locative singular arhau.→ The compound is accusative dual and appositional to both named warriors: “the two worthy of reverence.” Its final -au becomes -āv before the following vowel. The semantics follow pūjā “honour, reverence” [MW s.v. pūjā, 641,1] and arha “worthy of” [MW s.v. arha, 93,3].
gita []
The commentary is silent; the decision rests on agreement, compound syntax, and external sandhi.
Read madhusūdana and arisūdana as whole vocative compounds addressing Kṛṣṇa.→ The contextually appropriate divine epithets are “Slayer of Madhu” and “Destroyer of Foes.” The former is explicitly recorded as a name of Viṣṇu-Kṛṣṇa [MW s.v. madhusūdana, 780,3], and compound-final sūdana means “killing, destroying” [MW s.v. sūdana, 1242,2].
gita []
The commentary is silent; the decision rests on compound grammar, context, and the supplied dictionary.
Render katham with the first-person future as a rhetorical deliberative question: “How shall I …?”→ “How shall I …?” Katham is interrogative “how?” [MW s.v. katham, 247,2], and pratiyotsyāmi is a first-person future placed within its scope.
gita []
The commentary is silent; the decision rests on interrogative scope and verbal morphology.