Devadatta: Arjuna’s Śaṅkha

Devadatta is the divine śaṅkha (conch shell) of Arjuna, the great archer of the Mahābhārata. It is called the greatest of all conches, and its sound is enormous and terrifying. In ancient India a warrior blew his conch to announce himself and to signal the start of battle.

Arjuna sounds Devadatta at key moments of war: when he reveals who he is before a battle, and in the middle of a fight to shake the hearts of his enemies. The Virāṭa Parva names Devadatta twice in the chapters on the Uttara Gograhaṇa (the battle over the cattle of Virāṭa’s kingdom).

Description

The Virāṭa Parva describes Devadatta as:

  • White as the moon (candra-sadṛśa śvetatā)
  • The foremost of all conches (śaṅkhānāṃ śreṣṭham)
  • Having a huge sound (mahānāda)

When Arjuna blew Devadatta with all his strength, the sound was like a mountain splitting in two, or like Indra’s vajra (thunderbolt) striking a peak. The earth shook, every direction echoed, and the Kaurava army was seized with terror. Prince Uttara, who was driving Arjuna’s chariot, fell down onto the floor of the ratha (chariot) from the force of the sound.

Its Place in the Uttara Gograhaṇa

Before facing the Kaurava army, Arjuna spoke his ten names and then blew Devadatta. This announced who he was and that he was entering battle. It marked the end of the ajñātavāsa, the year the Pāṇḍavas had to live in hiding. Hiding gave way to open power, and the sound of Devadatta declared it to the three worlds.

Arjuna blew Devadatta a second time near the end of the battle. By then he had used the Sammohana astra (a divine weapon that makes the enemy lose consciousness) and the Kaurava army lay senseless. When he blew Devadatta again, its sound shattered the hearts of the enemy and completed their defeat.

In the Bhagavad Gītā

Devadatta is named in the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā (Gītā 1.15), where Arjuna blows it on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra:

Pāñcajanyaṃ Hṛṣīkeśo Devadattaṃ Dhanañjayaḥ

This means that Hṛṣīkeśa (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) blew Pāñcajanya, and Dhanañjaya (Arjuna) blew Devadatta. So the use of Devadatta in the Virāṭa Parva points ahead to the great war that is still to come.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 46 and 67
  • Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma Parva, Chapter 23 (Bhagavad Gītā 1.15)