Work
The Bhagavad Gita
BUG-uh-vud GEE-tah
Also Known As The Gita
Metaphysics
A Sanskrit scripture of seven hundred verses embedded in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, presenting a dialogue between the warrior Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna on duty (dharma), disciplined action without attachment to its fruits, and the paths to liberation. Ralph Waldo Emerson read it in translation, called it the first of books in an 1845 journal entry, and drew on it directly for his 1857 poem Brahma.
Facts
Disputed
Publication YearThe Gita's date of composition is one of the most contested questions in the field: most scholars place it between roughly 200 BCE and 200 CE, with individual estimates ranging as early as the 5th to 4th century BCE (Kashi Nath Upadhyaya) to the 2nd century BCE (Jeaneane Fowler) to around 150 BCE (Robert N. Minor); traditional Hindu chronology places the underlying Mahabharata war, and so the Gita, far earlier still, around 3100 BCE. The dating depends heavily on the equally uncertain dating of the larger Mahabharata, into which the Gita may have been inserted after the epic's earliest layers. A final form is generally thought reached by the early Gupta period, around the 4th century CE. Classification
Genre / FormSourced to the subject's own account TraditionSourced to the subject's own account Original Language Connections
In Branch
The Gita's teaching on the nature of the self (atman) and its relation to ultimate reality (brahman) is a metaphysical doctrine as much as an ethical one.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Influenced
Emerson called the Gita the first of books in his 1845 journal and drew on it directly for his 1857 poem Brahma.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Open Questions
Source The Bhagavad Gita (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. The Bhagavad Gita (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead, opening sentence
The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as the Gita, is a Hindu scripture, likely composed in the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the epic poem Mahabharata.
Dialogue framework sentence
Incorporating teachings from the Upanishads and the Samkhya Yoga philosophy, the Bhagavad Gita is set in a framework of dialogue between the Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer guide Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, at the onset of the Kurukshetra War.
View the Source 2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.- entry: Bhagavad Gita
- entry: Bhagavad Gita, Date and Text
- In Category: Works
- In Branch: Metaphysics
- Influenced: Ralph Waldo Emerson, entry: Bhagavad Gita, Influence
View the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
When Was the Bhagavad Gita Actually Composed?
Wikipedia's dating and authorship section reports estimates for the Gita's composition ranging from around the fifth or fourth century BCE, per Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, to the first century CE, with the second or first century BCE cited as the generally favored range. The scholar Jeaneane Fowler is quoted there as saying the dating varies considerably, depending partly on whether the Gita is treated as part of the Mahabharata's earliest layer or as a later insertion into the epic.
What would resolve this An independently datable reference within the text, or a broad consensus among Sanskritists on which layer of the Mahabharata the Gita belongs to, would narrow the range.
Indology and Sanskrit textual datingThe Bhagavad Gita (Wikipedia)
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