Bhagavad Gita 1.4
अत्र शूरा महेष्वासा भीमार्जुनसमा युधि । युयुधानो विराटश्च द्रुपदश्च महारथः ॥
atra śūrā maheṣv-āsā bhīmārjuna-samā yudhi | yuyudhāno virāṭaś ca drupadaś ca mahā-rathaḥ ||
Translation
Here are heroes, mighty archers, equal in battle to Bhima and Arjuna: Yuyudhana, Virata, and Drupada, the great chariot-warrior.
Reflection
What list are you running in your head today? What's it for?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter One
Duryodhana begins listing the enemy by name. Yuyudhana. Virata. Drupada. He will list more in the next breaths. He could have stopped at one. He does not. He names them all. This is what fear does when it cannot show itself. It catalogs. It counts. It establishes the size of the thing it is about to walk into so that the walking-in feels less like falling. Read aloud, it is almost a chant. The Mahabharata is full of these rosters; they are the meter of dread.