yudhāmanyuś ca vikrānta
uttamaujāś ca vīryavān
saubhadro draupadeyāś ca
sarva eva mahā-rathāḥ
Translation of Bhagavad Gita 1.6
There are the mighty Yudhamanyu, the very powerful Uttamauja, the son of Subhadra and the sons of Draupadi. All these warriors are great chariot fighters.
Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya:
No commentary by Srila Prabhupada.
Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya:
Here are Dhrstaketu, Cekitana, the valorous king of Kasi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Saibya, the best of men.
Here are mighty Yudhamanyu, valiant Uttamauja, Abhimanyu, and the five sons of Draupadi, all maharathas.
“The leaders of their troops, having great bows (isvasa), will be impossible to cut down.” That is the suggestion by his mentioning the bows. Yuyudhanah refers to Satyaki. Saubhadrah refers to Abhimanyu. Draupadeyah refers to the five sons of the Pandavas by Draupadi, such as Prativindhya.
eko dasa sahasrani yodhayed yas tu dhanvinam sastra-sastra-pravinas ca maharatha iti smrtah amitan yodhayed yas tu samprokto ‘tirathas tu sah caikena yo yudhyet tan-nyuno’rdha-rathah smrtah
A maharatha is one who can fight alone with ten thousand archers, who is expert in both weapons and scripture. An atiratha is one who fights with unlimited troops (less than ten thousand but more than a thousand). A ratha is one who fights with one thousand. One who does less than that is called ardha ratha.
Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:
1.1 – 1.19 Dhrtarastra said — Sanjaya said — Duryodhana, after viewing the forces of Pandavas protected by Bhima, and his own forces protected by Bhisma conveyed his views thus to Drona, his teacher, about the adequacy of Bhima’s forces for conquering the Kaurava forces and the inadequacy of his own forces for victory against the Pandava forces. He was grief-stricken within. Observing his (Duryodhana’s) despondecny, Bhisma, in order to cheer him, roared like a lion, and then blowing his conch, made his side sound their conchs and kettle-drums, which made an uproar as a sign of victory. Then, having heard that great tumult, Arjuna and Sri Krsna the Lord of all lords, who was acting as the charioteer of Arjuna, sitting in their great chariot which was powerful enough to conquer the three worlds; blew their divine conchs Srimad Pancajanya and Devadatta. Then, both Yudhisthira and Bhima blew their respective conchs separately. That tumult rent asunder the hearts of your sons, led by Duryodhana. The sons of Dhrtarastra then thought, ‘Our cause is almost lost now itself.’ So said Sanjaya to Dhrtarastra who was longing for their victory. Sanjaya said to Dhrtarastra: Then, seeing the Kauravas, who were ready for battle, Arjuna, who had Hanuman, noted for his exploit of burning Lanka, as the emblem on his flag on his chariot, directed his charioteer Sri Krsna, the Supreme Lord-who is overcome by parental love for those who take shelter in Him who is the treasure-house of knowledge, power, lordship, energy, potency and splendour, whose sportive delight brings about the origin, sustentation and dissolution of the entire cosmos at His will, who is the Lord of the senses, who controls in all ways the senses inner and outer of all, superior and inferior — by saying, ‘Station my chariot in an appropriate place in order that I may see exactly my enemies who are eager for battle.
Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:
Here means here in this army are those weapons by which arrows are discharged. Those weapons are called bows. Those who are wielders of mighty bows are known as mighty-bowed. Bhima and Arjuna are two exceptionally famous warriors. There are other heroes equally famous in the Pandava army. They are being mentioned from verse 4 to verse 6. They are all maha- ratha’s. A maha-ratha is a warrior so perfected in the science of weaponry that he can fight alone against 11,000 bowmen all at the same time and not be defeated. An ati-ratha is so expert that he can fight alone against many innumerable bowmen at the same time and not be defeated. A rathi is he who can fight against one bowman at the same time and not be defeated and he who cannot fight successfully against even one bowman is called a half- rathi.
Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:
Sri Madhvacarya did not comment on this sloka.
Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:
The adjective vikranta meaning valiant qualifies Yudhamanyu and the adjective viryavan meaning very powerful qualifies Uttamauja. Saubhadra refers to Abhimanyu the son of Saubhadra by Arjuna. Draupadeya refers to the five sons of Draupadi being Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Srutakirti, Sutanika and Srutasena. The particle ca refers to Ghatotkaca the son of Hidimba by Bhima. All these are also certainly maharathas. Arjuna and his brothers are not mentioned because it is well known by all that they are all unrivalled maharathas. The characteristics of a maharatha are that he can fight single-handedly against 10,000 bow weilding archers and is expert in the science and practice of warfare. An atiratha can fight with innumerable warriors up to 10,000. A ratha can fight alone against one opponent and a ardharatha cannot defeat even a single opponent.
Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:
1.6 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.
Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:
1.2 — 1.9 Why this exhaustive counting? The reality of things is this:
Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:
yudhamanyus ca vikranta
uttamaujas ca viryavan
saubhadro draupadeyas ca
sarva eva maha-rathah
Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:
yudhāmanyuḥ — Yudhāmanyu; ca — and; vikrāntaḥ — mighty; uttamaujāḥ — Uttamaujā; ca — and; vīrya-vān — very powerful; saubhadraḥ — the son of Subhadrā; draupadeyāḥ — the sons of Draupadī; ca — and; sarve — all; eva — certainly; mahā-rathāḥ — great chariot fighters.
