extraction.bhagavad_gita.battlefield_duty
---
record_id: extraction.bhagavad_gita.battlefield_duty
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/song-celestial-bhagavad-gita.md
passage_locator:
label: CHAPTER II
start: CHAPTER II
end: HERE ENDETH CHAPTER II. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA,
translation: The Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Sir Edwin Arnold
notes: Selected passage within Krishna's response after Arjuna says, "I will not
fight!"
canonical_text:
summary: After Arjuna falls silent between the armies, Krishna answers that the
life or spirit is not slain and instructs him to perform his Kshattriya duty in
the battle with equanimity toward pleasure and pain, profit and ruin, victory
and defeat.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Arjuna says he will not fight and then remains silent.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Krishna answers while Arjuna weeps between the two hosts.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Krishna says that life cannot slay and is not slain.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Krishna tells Arjuna to do his part and not suffer for what cannot suffer.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Krishna says abandoning known duty and task would be sin.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Krishna tells Arjuna to arise for conflict and hold pleasure and pain, profit
and ruin, victory and defeat alike.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Arjuna
description: Prince, Son of Kunti, and Kshattriya addressed on the battlefield.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Krishna
description: Called Madhusudan, the Driver, and the Lord of Hearts in this chapter.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: refusing warrior
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Arjuna says he will not fight before Krishna answers him between the hosts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: charioteer-instructor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Krishna is identified as the Driver and then gives the teaching in response
to Arjuna.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: Kshattriya
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Krishna addresses the duty question by naming the honourable field for a
Kshattriya.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: honourable field
literal_form: This honourable field--a Kshattriya
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: deathless life
literal_form: Life cannot slay. Life is not slain.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: battle duty
literal_form: duty and task
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: paired outcomes
literal_form: pleasure or pain, profit or ruin, victory or defeat
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Arjuna refuses battle
summary: Arjuna says he will not fight, and Krishna answers him while he is weeping
between the two hosts.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Krishna teaches duty in battle
summary: Krishna speaks about life not being slain, tells Arjuna to do his part,
warns against abandoning duty and task, and commands him to arise for conflict
with equanimity toward paired outcomes.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: battlefield_revelation
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- initiation
basis: A teaching about life, grief, duty, and action is delivered after Arjuna's
refusal in the space between the opposing armies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a motif candidate for indexing; it does not by itself establish
relation to any external text.
- id: motif:2
label: warrior_duty_under_crisis
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Krishna explicitly links Arjuna's Kshattriya status, duty and task, and the
command to fight.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The extraction records the passage's own duty language without resolving
later theological or ethical interpretation.
- id: motif:3
label: deathless_life_teaching
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Krishna grounds the instruction in a claim that life cannot slay and is not
slain.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The translation's wording is retained; Sanskrit technical vocabulary is
not independently analyzed here.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage is a candidate battlefield instruction scene in which a divine
charioteer-teacher responds to a warrior's refusal with teachings about deathless
life, duty, and equanimous action.
claim_level: same_function
target: 'pattern atlas: revelation-in-crisis and duty-instruction scenes'
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: low
limitations: Corpus-internal pattern claim only; no historical contact, borrowing,
or common-inheritance claim is made.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: CHAPTER II
quote_or_summary: And sighing,"I will not fight!" held silence then.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/song-celestial-bhagavad-gita.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: CHAPTER II
quote_or_summary: 'While the Prince wept despairing ''twixt those hosts, Krishna
made answer in divinest verse:'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/song-celestial-bhagavad-gita.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: CHAPTER II
quote_or_summary: Life cannot slay. Life is not slain!
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/song-celestial-bhagavad-gita.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: CHAPTER II
quote_or_summary: This Life within all living things, my Prince! Hides beyond harm;
scorn thou to suffer, then, For that which cannot suffer. Do thy part!
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/song-celestial-bhagavad-gita.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: CHAPTER II
quote_or_summary: If, knowing thy duty and thy task, thou bidd'st Duty and task
go by--that shall be sin!
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/song-celestial-bhagavad-gita.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: CHAPTER II
quote_or_summary: 'Therefore, arise, thou Son of Kunti! brace Thine arm for conflict,
nerve thy heart to meet-- As things alike to thee--pleasure or pain, Profit or
ruin, victory or defeat:'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/hindu/project-gutenberg/song-celestial-bhagavad-gita.md
rights_note: Public-domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: low
notes: Chapter-only locators are used because this source transcription provides
chapter headings and speaker labels but no verse numbers.
reviewer_status:
status: draft
notes: Draft extraction; needs human review before use as final analytical data.
extracted_by: Codex
extracted_at: '2026-04-27'
notes: Created for Wave 2 Bhagavad-Gita extraction under the owned Hindu Project Gutenberg
directory.