Verse 2.6

न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो

यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः ।

यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्-

तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ॥

2.6

Transliteration

na caitadvidmaḥ kataranno garīyo

yadvā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ |

yāneva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas-

te'vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ ||

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

Translation

I can hardly tell which will be better, that we should coner them or that they should coner us. Even the sons of Dhritarashtra, after slaying whom we do not wish to live, stand facing us.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

not
and
this
we know
which
for us
better

whether
or
we should conquer
if
or
us
they should conquer

whom
indeed
having killed
not
we would wish to live

they
stand
before us
the sons of Dhritarashtra

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

Explanation

Here Arjuna confesses uncertainty rather than conviction. He cannot tell whether winning or losing would be better, because the people across the field are his own kin, the sons of Dhritarashtra, and a victory over them would leave life without meaning. This admission matters for the dialogue. Arjuna has moved from arguing a position to recognising that he does not know. That honest confusion opens the way for the request he makes in the next verse, where he stops debating and asks to be taught.