Bhagavad Gita: The Song Celestial

The

Song Celestial.

or

Bhagavad-Gita

(From the Mahabharata)

Being a Discourse Between Arjuna,

Prince of India, and the Supreme Being

Under the Form of Krishna

Translated from the Sanskrit Text

by

Sir Edwin Arnold,

M.A., K.C.I.E., C.S.I.

New York

Truslove, Hanson & Comba, Ltd.

67 Fifth Avenue

1900

Dedication

TO INDIA

So have I read this wonderful and spirit-thrilling speech,

By Krishna and Prince Arjun held, discoursing each with each;

So have I writ its wisdom here,--its hidden mystery,

For England; O our India! as dear to me as She!

EDWIN ARNOLD

PREFACE

This famous and marvellous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of the

Mahabharata, in the sixth--or "Bhishma"--Parva of the great Hindoo

epic. It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India, where it is

reckoned as one of the ``Five Jewels,"--pancharatnani--of Devanagiri

literature. In plain but noble language it unfolds a philosophical system

which remains to this day the prevailing Brahmanic belief, blending as it

does the doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali, and the Vedas. So lofty are many

of its declarations, so sublime its aspirations, so pure and tender its

piety, that Schlegel, after his study of the poem, breaks forth into this

outburst of delight and praise towards its unknown author:

"Magistrorum reverentia a Brachmanis inter sanctissima pietatis officia

refertur. Ergo te primum, Vates sanctissime, Numinisque hypopheta!

quisquis tandem inter mortales dictus tu fueris, carminis bujus auctor,,

cujus oraculis mens ad excelsa quaeque,quaeque,, aeterna atque divina,

cum inenarraoih quddam delectatione rapitur-te primum, inquam,

salvere jubeo, et vestigia tua semper adore." Lassen re-echoes this

splendid tribute; and indeed, so striking are some of the moralities here

inculcated, and so close the parallelism--ofttimes actually verbal--

between its teachings and those of the New Testament, that a

controversy has arisen between Pandits and Missionaries on the point

whether the author…