Pāñcajanya
Pāñcajanya is the divine śaṅkha (conch) of Kṛshṇa. It is one of the four great weapons of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The other three are the Sudarśana Cakra, the Kaumodakī gadā (mace) and the Nandaka khaḍga (sword).
Kṛshṇa obtained the conch from the asura Pāñcajana, a sea-creature in the form of a conch. Its blast shakes svarga and earth, strikes fear into the asuras, and announces the presence of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa on the battlefield. At Kurukshetra, Kṛshṇa’s blowing of Pāñcajanya before the battle shows that the divine will is present and that the great war has begun.
Origin
The name Pāñcajanya comes from the asura Pāñcajana. Kṛshṇa took this śaṅkha from his body, or from his conch form.
Sāndīpani’s son. Kṛshṇa and Balarāma finished their gurukula studies at Avantī under Sāndīpani Muni. They asked their guru what gift they could give him. Sāndīpani asked for his drowned son to be brought back. Kṛshṇa went down into the depths of the ocean. There he met Pāñcajana, a great asura in the form of a conch-creature, who had swallowed the boy. Kṛshṇa killed Pāñcajana and took the conch from his body. Then he went on to Yama’s realm to bring back the boy himself. The Pāñcajanya śaṅkha was kept as a trophy of this encounter.
The Narakāsura campaign. The conch also appears in the campaign against Narakāsura. Kṛshṇa blew Pāñcajanya to announce that he was coming to Prāgjyotisha on Garuḍa. The blast shook all three worlds and warned the asuras of what was coming. The Sabhā Parva (dākshiṇātya prati, Chapter 38) is the text cited for these accounts.
Blowing of Pāñcajanya after the Durgā Stotra
The Bhīshma Parva records a clear sequence. Arjuna finished the Durgā Stotra (hymn of praise to Durgā) and received her blessing of victory. Then he climbed into his chariot. The text says:
Kṛshṇārjunulu tama Pāñcajanya-Devadatta śaṅkhāmulanu mōgaṃciṛi
This means: Kṛshṇa and Arjuna blew their conches, Pāñcajanya and Devadatta. In Sañjaya’s telling after the event, the sounding of the two conches right after the divine blessing marks the formal start of the Kurukshetra war.
Role at Kurukshetra
At the start of the Kurukshetra war, Kṛshṇa blew Pāñcajanya first among the conches of the Pāṇḍava side. Arjuna and Kṛshṇa stood in their chariot between the two armies. After the conches were blown, with Pāñcajanya the chief among them, Arjuna’s grief began and Kṛshṇa’s teaching followed.
The Bhagavad Gītā (1.15) names each hero’s conch. Kṛshṇa blew Pāñcajanya, Arjuna blew Devadatta, and Bhīmasena blew the Pauṇḍra. The verse names the other conch-bearers only as “and so on”.
The conch that wailed on its own
The Mausala Parva lists dreadful omens that announced the doom of the Yādavas at Dvārakā. One was that Pāñcajanya sounded by itself inside the houses of the Vṛshṇis and Andhakas. It wailed with no breath to fill it.
This strange cry of Kṛshṇa’s own conch came with other omens: Kāla roaming, Agni burning toward the left, and an eclipse on the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight. Kṛshṇa saw in these signs that the appointed hour of destruction had come. They pointed to the coming of the brāhmaṇa’s curse at Prabhāsa.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, dākshiṇātya prati, Chapter 38
- Bhagavad Gītā 1.15
- Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapter 23
- Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 2