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00 - Introduction - Bhagavad Gita · Sacred Texts Archive

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  Bolgovov Ghita translated by Sir Edwin Arnold introductory note. During the centuries in which
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  Buddhism was establishing itself in the east of India, the older Brahmanism in the
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  West was undergoing the changes which resulted in the Hinduism, which is now the
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  prevailing religion of India. The main ancient sources of information with regard to these
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  Hindu beliefs and practices are the two great epics, the Ramayana and the Maha
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  Brata. The former is a highly artificial production based on legend and ascribed to
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  one man Vall Mikua. The latter, a huge conglomeration of stirring adventure,
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  legend, myth history and superstition, is a composite production, begun probably as
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  early as the fourth or fifth century before Christ and completed by the end of
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  the sixth century of our era. It represents many strata of religious belief The
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  Boghovodgita, of which a translation is here given, occurs as an episode in
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  the Mahabarata and is regarded as one of the gems of Hindu literature. The
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  poem is a dialogue between Prince Arjuna, the brother of King Yurhistira and Vishnu,
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  the supreme God, incarnated as Khrushna and wearing the disguise of a charioteer.
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  The conversation takes place in a war chariot stationed between the armies of the
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  Kauravas and Bandavas, who are about to engage in battle. To the western
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  reader, much of the discussion seems childish and illogical, but these elements are
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  mingled with passages of undeniable sublimity. Many of the more puzzling inconsistencies are due
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  to interpolations by later rewriters. It is, says Hopkins, a medley of
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  beliefs as to the relation of spirit and matter and other secondary matters. It
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  is uncertain in its tone in regard to the comparative efficacy of action and inaction,
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  and in regard to the practical man's means of salvation, but it is
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  at one with itself in its fundamental thesis that all things are each a part
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  of one Lord, that men and gods are but manifestations of the one divine
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  Spirit. End of introductory note