Pradyumna (leads chanting, etc.):

drupado draupadeyäç ca
sarvaçaù påthivé-pate
saubhadraç ca mahä-bähuù
çaìkhän dadhmuù påthak påthak

"King Yudhiñöhira, the son of Kunté, blew his conchshell, the Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughoña and Maëipuñpaka. That great archer the King of Käçé, the great fighter Çikhaëòi, Dhåñöadyumna, Viräöa and the unconquerable Sätyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadé, and the others, O King, such as the son of Subhadrä, greatly armed, all blew their respective conchshells."

Prabhupäda: So here Dhåtaräñöra is addressed as påthivé-pati, the lord of the world. Påthivé, påthivé means this planet. So five thousand years ago, from the statement it appears that the king of Hastinäpura was the emperor of the whole world, påthivé-pati. One king, the whole planet was being governed by one emperor or king, and different parts of the world, other kings, subordinate kings, as they are named here, Drupada, then Viräöa, Käçya, in different parts of the world they came and joined. And each and every one of them possessed a different kind of bugle, çaìkha. So they declared that now we are ready to fight.

And another significance of this verse is, Yudhiñöhira is also described here as räjä. In the beginning Saïjaya informed Dhåtaräñöra that Duryodhana räjä. So actually the fight is between the two kings. One side Duryodhana, another side Yudhiñöhira. One may not misunderstand, therefore particularly mentioned kunté-putra, this räjä is Kunté’s son, kunté-putra. So Drupada, Mahäräja Drupada, the father of Draupadé, Draupadé was gained by Arjuna in competition. Draupadé, the daughter of Mahäräja Drupada is Draupadé. She is Draupadé. And her sons they are draupadeya.

So the grandfather, the grandsons, all of them were present, because they were allies. Mahäräja Drupada happened to be the father-in-law of the Päëòavas. Draupadé accepted five husbands. When Draupadé was gained in the competition, they were incognito. The Päëòavas were incognito. They were banished for twelve years, and after twelve years, one year they had to live incognito. Nobody would understand where they are living. So they took shelter at the house of Mahäräja Viräöa.

So Viräöa, at that time this Mahäräja Viräöa’s daughter Uttarä, was trained by Arjuna for dancing. Arjuna was appointed as a dancing teacher for the daughter of Mahäräja Viräöa, Uttarä. So when it was discovered that Arjuna was not a dancing teacher, he was the great hero, Mahäräja Viräöa wanted to offer his daughter, that you marry my daughter, because he was disclosed. So Arjuna said, "How can I marry this girl. I am her teacher. Therefore a teacher is to be considered as father, so it is not possible. So if you like I can get this girl married with my son Saubhadra, Subhadrä’s son."

Arjuna had another wife Subhadrä. That Subhadrä, you know, sister of Kåñëa. Sister of Kåñëa. So Subhadrä, Balaräma, elder brother, Kåñëa, younger brother. Kåñëa wanted to hand over Subhadrä to Arjuna, and Balaräma wanted to hand over Subhadrä to Duryodhana. So Kåñëa could not say anything. The elder brother has decided. Therefore Kåñëa advised Arjuna to kidnap Subhadrä. Just see how much Kåñëa was affectionate to Arjuna that Arjuna liked also to marry Subhadrä, and Subhadrä also liked, but the elder brother did not agree. So they made a plan that Arjuna kidnap Subhadrä.

This kidnapping was allowed among the kñatriyas, and fight. That is kñatriya marriage. Unless there is fight, that marriage is not complete. The red vermillion which we apply, that is kñatriya principle. After killing the opposite party, the blood will be smeared over the hair of the bride. That is conquer, victory. So in every marriage, Kåñëa had 16,108 wives, and each wife was married by fighting, beginning from Rukmiëé. Rukmiëé also, the first wife of Kåñëa, the first queen, when Kåñëa became king of Dvärakä, she was the first queen. So Subhadra was kidnapped by Arjuna. Rukmiëé was settled up to be married with Çiçupäla. Çiçupäla also happened to be Kåñëa’s cousin-brother, and Rukmiëé did not like that she would be handed over to Çiçupäla. She wanted to marry Kåñëa. So she sent one letter to Kåñëa that this is the position. "My brother Rukma, he has decided to hand over to me to Çiçupäla, but I don’t like. So please arrange for kidnapping." A brähmaëa was sent to Kåñëa.

That is also another responsibility of kñatriya. If a girl proposes, "I want to marry you," a kñatriya cannot refuse, he cannot refuse. He must marry that girl, even at the risk of life. This is kñatriya spirit. One räkñasé, she wanted to marry Bhéma. So Bhéma refused, she was a räkñasé. So she complained to Mahäräja Yudhiñöhira that I wanted to marry Bhéma but he has refused. And Yudhiñöhira Mahäräja compelled Bhéma, "You must marry. Even though she is räkñasé, you are kñatriya you cannot refuse." This was the system, very nice system, brähmaëa, kñatriya, vaiçya, çüdra. Don’t work now, you should hear. You cannot divert your attention.

So all these kings on the side of the Päëòavas, they were relatives, so they joined. So when they blew their different types of conchshell, then the other side were trembled, "Oh, they have gathered so much strength." Because Duryodhana thought that for, continually for thirteen years Päëòavas were banished, so they could not gather any good amount of soldiers. But when they saw that so many kings from different parts of the world have joined them, so they became frightened. That is described in the next verse, sa ghoño dhärtaräñöräëäà hådayäni vyadärayat. They are just like heart-broken: "What is this? They have gathered so much great, great fighters." Nabhaç ca påthivéà caiva tumulo ’bhyanunädayan. You read this verse.

Pradyumna:

sa ghoño dhärtaräñöräëäà
hådayäni vyadärayat.
nabhaç ca påthivéà caiva
tumulo ’bhyanunädayan

Translation: "The blowing of these different conchshells became uproarious, and thus, vibrating both in the sky and on the earth, it shattered the hearts of the sons of Dhåtaräñöra."