The Symbolic Meaning of Dvandva Yuddh

Question

“Here, at one point Parashurama told Ram that if you lift and string the Vishnu bow, then I will grant you such a dvandva yuddh that your valor will be remembered. So what does dvandva yuddh mean here?”

Answer

“Dvandva yuddh means ‘mutual’. Dvandva means two — two people, meaning you and I. So dvandva means a mutual interaction between two.

The Vishnu bow here symbolizes the strengthening of self-knowledge — making self-knowledge firm. And when self-knowledge becomes firm, it means that whoever comes before me, when I interact with them, I will behave according to that inner knowledge.

Dvandva yuddh is not the kind of battle you are thinking of — not a fighting battle. Not like the dvandva yuddh between Bhima and Duryodhana in the Mahabharata, which was on the physical level.

On the spiritual level, it means: whoever comes into contact with me, I will behave with them exactly according to what I am within. Life itself is a battle, a struggle. So dvandva yuddh means meeting another person, coming into mutual contact. In life we meet many people, and in those interactions we respond exactly from the state we are in. If within me there is an urge to insult someone, I will insult them. And if I am established in self-knowledge, then I will behave accordingly.

So when he says, ‘I will grant you such a dvandva yuddh,’ it means: I will make your self-knowledge so strong that whoever comes into your contact, you will respond to them according to that inner knowledge. You will not deal with them from the body-level perspective.

This is the dvandva yuddh he said he would grant. Our scriptures are extremely symbolic. Even small statements carry deep meaning, and we must understand them so we can grasp the main story properly. The line ‘I will grant you dvandva yuddh’ may seem like a small detail, but why it was said — that requires going deeper to understand the true meaning of the story.”