Verse 1.22

यावदेतान्निरीक्षेऽहं योद्धुकामानवस्थितान् ।

कैर्मया सह योद्धव्यमस्मिन् रणसमुद्यमे ॥

1.22

Transliteration

yāvadetānnirīkṣe'haṃ yoddhukāmānavasthitān |

kairmayā saha yoddhavyamasmin raṇasamudyame ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

Arjuna said In the middle between the two armies, place my chariot, O krishna, so that I may behold those who stand here desirous to fight, and know with whom I must fight, when the battle is about to commence.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

while
these
may observe
I
eager to fight
standing

with whom
by me
with
must be fought
in this
undertaking of battle

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

Arjuna explains why he wants to be placed between the armies. He wishes to see clearly the men he will face, to know with whom he must fight. The intention is that of a commander surveying the field before battle. Yet the act of looking closely is what undoes him. The Gita often turns on seeing, and here seeing the faces of the enemy is the first step toward Arjuna's realisation that they are his own people. His purpose is martial, but its result will be moral and personal.