Verse 4.7

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।

अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥

4.7

Transliteration

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānirbhavati bhārata |

abhyutthānamadharmasya tadātmānaṃ sṛjāmyaham ||

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

Translation

Whenever there is decline of righteousness, O Arjuna, and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

whenever
whenever
indeed
of dharma
decline
occurs
O Bharata (Arjuna)

rise
of adharma
then
myself
manifest
I

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

Explanation

This is one of the best-known verses of the Gita. Krishna says that whenever dharma weakens and adharma, disorder and wrongdoing, gains ground, he manifests himself. The idea of the avatāra, the divine descent into the world, finds its classic statement here. The verse explains why the eternal and unborn would take birth at all: to restore balance when the moral order is threatened. It also connects Krishna's presence on this battlefield to the larger purpose of upholding dharma in the world.