Analysis: Excerpt from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 1

Date: c. 200 BCE–200 CE

Geographic Region: India

Author: Unknown

Summary Overview

The Bhagavad Gita is a lengthy episode, in verse, that makes up part of the great Hindu poem the Mahābhārata (c. 500 BCE–500 CE). It is a dialogue between Prince Arjuna—who is on the battlefield, facing an opposing army led by members of his extended family—and Krishna. Arjuna is troubled by the violence and bloodshed that are about to befall his family, and he engages in a protracted dialogue with his counselor, Krishna, an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. This dialogue illustrates many of the foundational principals of Hinduism, including the argument for nonviolence, the dualism of yoga, and the concept of dharma as duty, harmony, and truth. The Bhagavad Gita is a sacred text to most Hindu traditions, though it is considered a smriti, or derivative text, rather than a divinely revealed work. It is a foundational text of Hindu philosophy and has influenced religious belief and practice for centuries.

Defining Moment

The period known as the “second urbanization” in Indian history was marked by shifting economic and cultural boundaries. By 500 BCE, Indian culture was centered on kingdoms called Mahajanapadas. Within these kingdoms, commerce and trade thrived, but they also came into regular conflict with each other and with outside forces. The traditional Vedic religious practices focused on priest-led sacrifice and ritual. As urbanization and long-distance trade increased, so did the idea of individual initiative; thus, the orthodoxy of the Vedic priests began to lose ground. Springing up during this time, so-called renouncer traditions rejected worldly goods and goals and chose ascetic, spiritual lives. Some of these, such as Buddhism, survived as major religions, while elements of the Indian ascetic tradition challenged traditional Hindu practice and were eventually incorporated into it. The doctrine of reincarnation is a tradition associated with this time, as is the belief that the world is full of suffering and the goal is to eventually escape it. The Vedic priests, members of the Brahmin class, had a vested interest in amassing property and having children, as their power derived from the strength of their caste. By contrast, ascetics eschewed personal possessions and were celibate, seeing both worldly possessions and sexual activity as distractions from the ultimate goal of escape from the cycle of death and rebirth. The text of the Bhagavad Gita is a product of its time, as it seeks to reconcile a spiritual life with worldly action.

Document Information

The Bhagavad Gita is part of one of the two epic Hindu poems written in Sanskrit, assembled over time and part of a long oral tradition. It is thought to have been composed anywhere between 500 BCE and 500 CE (though other estimates limit the timeframe to 200 BCE to 200 CE). The Bhagavad Gita was first translated into English by Charles Wilkins in 1784, under the auspices of the East India Company. It was among the earliest Sanskrit texts to be translated into English and was called Bhagavat Geeta or the Dialogues of Kreeshna and Arjoon. The East India Company and Wilkins advertised this translation as a cultural curiosity from an exotic land, and it was retranslated into Russian, French, German, and Greek. Before 1880, two major translations existed—Wilkins's and one in 1855 by J. Cockburn Thomson. These were particularly influential to the transcendentalists, whose nonviolence and mysticism drew from various world traditions. In the later decades of the nineteenth century, multiple translations of the Bhagavad Gita appeared, evidence of a resurgence in the interest in “Orientalism” among the Victorians. In 1882, the Kashinath Trimbak Telang translation was published in the eighth volume of the landmark Oxford University series Sacred Books of the East. In 1885, Sir Edwin Arnold published The Song Celestial, or Bhagavad Gita, and it became part of popular collections of verse. The Bhagavad Gita has been translated many more times, often as a collaboration between an Indian and a Western scholar. It was widely distributed as “Bhagavad-Gita As It Is,” a translation by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the modern Hare Krishna movement. Prabhupada's translation was first published in 1968, and a second edition is available in more than fifty languages. The translation used here comes from the International Gita Society.

Document Analysis

This selection from the Bhagavad Gita encompasses the critical problem addressed in the book and has inspired nonviolent movements and philosophy for centuries. The dialogue takes place on a battlefield, which symbolizes the forthcoming struggle for Prince Arjuna. It has been read by scholars and philosophers since then as a symbol of the internal struggle that is part of the human condition.

The plot of the Bhagavad Gita is based on the story of a royal family divided into two rival contingents, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. These two branches of the family are on the battlefield on the eve of a war for the throne. Despite efforts to resolve the disputes peacefully, diplomacy has failed, and combat seems the only option. Leading the Pandavas is Prince Arjuna, a great archer and a member of the warrior, or Kshatriya, class. Both sides have signaled the beginning of the battle by beating on drums and blowing on conch shells and trumpets. “The tumultuous uproar, resounding through the earth and sky, tore the hearts of your sons.” Prince Arjuna is in his chariot with the god Vishnu, who has taken the form of the man Krishna. Arjuna asks Krishna to stop his chariot so he can see who he is about to fight.

This moment is the turning point of the battle for Prince Arjuna. Seeing so many of his friends and relatives on the other side overwhelms him, and he decides not to fight. “O Krishna, seeing my kinsmen standing with a desire to fight, my limbs fail and my mouth becomes dry.” Arjuna finds nothing but evil in the killing of his former friends, and he has a serious crisis of conscience. He is convinced that fighting them would bring “bad omens” and “sin.” Even though the other side of the family has not seen the evil of war and turned away from it, Arjuna can see no reason to fight.

Arjuna sees a multitude of reasons that war should be avoided. The destruction of the family means the end of family traditions and “codes of moral conduct.” The women of the family will be corrupted by the lack of family leadership; children will be born who are not wanted, and they will not be able to honor the family. “We have been told, O Krishna, that people whose family traditions are destroyed necessarily dwell in hell for a long time.” Since killing family members is clearly a sin, Arjuna argues, why is he facing down his relatives on a battlefield? He argues that it would be better to be killed than to kill. “It would be far better for me if my cousin brothers kill me with their weapons in battle while I am unarmed and unresisting.” Paralyzed by doubt, Arjuna sits down in his chariot.

Krishna's reply is not included in this selection, but it is crucial to understanding the text. Krishna responds that doing one's duty is not a sin, and inaction is not possible. Besides, he argues, killing the body is not the same as killing the soul. By fulfilling one's duty, bad karma can be avoided.

Bibliography and Additional Reading

Mallory, J. P. & D. Q. Adams. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. New York: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.

Miller, Barbara. The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War. New York: Columbia UP, 1986. Print.

Minor, Robert Neil, ed. Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita. Albany: SUNY P, 1986. Print.