Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Bhagavad Gita

Krishna, Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 18-19 th century painting.

"Gita" redirects here. For other uses, see Gita (disambiguation).

The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit भगवद् गीता, Bhagavad Gītā, "Song of God") is an important Sanskrit Hindu scripture. It is revered as a sacred scripture of Hinduism,^[1]^[2] and considered as one of the most important religious classics of the world.^[3] The Bhagavad Gita is a part of the Mahabharata, comprising of 700 verses. The teacher of the Bhagavad Gita is Sri Krishna, who is regarded by the Hindus as the supreme manifestation of the Lord Himself,^[3] and is referred to within as Bhagavan—the divine one.^[4] The Bhagavad Gita is commonly referred to as The Gita for short.

The content of the Gita is the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna taking place on the battlefield before the start of the Kurukshetra war. Responding to Arjuna's confusion and moral dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince and elaborates on different Yogic^[5] and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and also as a practical, self-contained guide to life. Other noted experts have described it as a lighthouse of eternal wisdom that has the ability to inspire any man or woman to supreme accomplishment and enlightenment. ^[6] During the discourse, Krishna reveals his identity as the Supreme Being Himself (Svayam bhagavan), blessing Arjuna with an awe-inspiring vision of his divine universal form.

The Bhagavad Gita is also called Gitopanishad as well as Yogopanishad, implying its status as an Upanishad, or a Vedantic scripture.^[7] Since the Gita is drawn from the Mahabharata, it is included in Smriti texts. However, being one of the Upanishads, it has a status of śruti, or revealed knowledge.^[8]^[9] Since the Bhagavad Gita represents a summary of the Upanishadic teachings, it is also called as the Upanishad of the Upanishads.^[1] The Gita is also called a mokshashastra, or scripture of liberation, since it deals with the science of the absolute and lays down the way to emancipation.^[10]

Date and text

Bhagavad Gita, a 19th century manuscript.

For historicity of the Mahabharata war, see: Mahabharatha

The Bhagavad Gita occurs in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata and comprises 18 chapters from the 25th to the 42nd and consists of 700 verses.^[11]^[12] The verses themselves, using the range and style of Sanskrit meter (chhandas) with similes and metaphors, are written in a poetic form that is traditionally chanted; hence the title, which translates to "the Song of the Divine One".

The Bhagavad Gita is later than the great movement represented by the early Upanishads and earlier than the period of the development of the philosophic systems and their formulation in the sutras. The origin of the Gita is definitely in the pre-Christian era.^[13] The date of composition and the author of the Gita is not known with certainty. Almost all the books belonging to the early literature of India are anonymous.^[13] However the authorship of the Gita is attributed to Vyasa, the compiler of the Mahabharatha.^[13]^[14] Scholars have opined that the date of composition of the Bhagavad Gita is between the fifth century B.C. and second century B.C

Based on claims of differences in the poetic styles some scholars like Jinarajadasa have argued that the Bhagavad Gita was added to the Mahabharata at a later date.^[17]^[18]

Within the text of the Bhagavad Gita itself Krishna claims that the knowledge of Yoga contained in the Gita was first instructed to mankind at the very beginning of their existence.^[19]

As Hinduism has historically had an oral tradition of transmitting knowledge from generation to generation for thousands of years, it is not uncommon for religious traditions within Hinduism to believe that the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita are much older than the dates ascribed to it by modern scholars as to when it was inked to paper.^[20]

Although the original date of composition of the Bhagavad Gita is not clear, its teachings are considered timeless and the exact time of revelation of the scripture is to be considered of little spiritual significance by scholars like Bansi Pandit, Juan Mascaro.^[1]^[21] Swami Vivekananda dismisses concerns about differences of opinion regarding the historical events as unimportant for study of the Gita from the point of acquirement of Dharma.^[22]

Prelude to Bhagavad Gita

Main articles: Mahabharata, Kurukshetra war, and Krishna

The main theme of the Mahabharata is the exploits of two families of royal cousins, known as the Pandavas and the kauravas, who were the sons of two brothers, Pandu and Dhritarashtra, respectively. Since Dhritarashtra was born blind, Pandu inherited the ancestral kingdom, comprising a part of northern India around modern Delhi. The pandava brothers were Yudhishthira the eldest, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. The kaurava brothers were one hundred in number, Duryodhana being the eldest. When pandu died at an early age, his young children were placed under the care of their uncle Dhritarashtra who usurped the throne.^[23]^[24]

The pandavas and the Kauravas were brought up together in the same household and had the same teachers, the most notable of whom were Bhishma and Dronacharya.^[24] Bhishma, the wise grandsire, acted as their chief guradian, and the brahmin Drona was their military instructor. The pandavas were endowed with righteousness, self control, nobility, and many other knightly traits. On the other hand, the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, especially Duryodhana, were endowed with negative qualities and were cruel, unrighteous, unscrupulous, greedy, and lustful. Duryodhana being jealous of his five cousins, contrived various means to destroy them.^[25]

When the time came to crown Yudhisthira, the eldest of the pandavas as the prince, Duryodhana, through a crooked game of dice, exiled the pandavas into the forest.^[24] On their return from banishment the pandavas demanded the return of their legitimate kingdom. Duryodhana who had consolidated his power by many alliances, refused to restore their legal and moral rights. Attempts by elders and Krishna who was a friend of the Pandavas and also a well wisher of the kauravas, to resolve the issue failed. Nothing would satisfy Duryodhana's inordinate greed.

War became inevitable. Both Duryodhana and Arjuna requested Krishna to support them in fighting the war, since he possessed the strongest army, and was revered as the wisest teacher and the greatest yogi. Krishna offered to give his vast army to one of them and to become a charioteer and counselor for the other, but he would not to touch any weapon nor to participate in the battle in any manner.^[26] While Duryodhana chose Krishna's vast army, Arjuna preferred to have Krishna as his charioteer.^[28] The whole realm responded to the call of the pandavas and the Kauravas. The kings, princes, and knights of India with their armies, assembled on the sacred plain of Kurukshetra.^[26] The blind king Dhritharashtra wished to follow the progress of the battle. The sage Vyasa offered to endow him with supernatural sight; but the king refused the boon, for he felt that the sight of the destruction of his near and dear ones would be too much for him to bear. Thereupon Vyasa bestowed supernatural sight on Sanjaya, who was to act as reporter to Dhritarashtra. The Gita opens with the question of the blind king to Sanjaya regarding what happened on the battle-field when the two armies faced each other in battle array.^[29]

Background

Statue representing the discourse of Krishna and Arjuna, located in Tirumala

The discourse on the Bhagavad Gita begins before the start of the climactic battle at Kurukshetra. It begins with the Pandava prince Arjuna, as he becomes filled with doubt on the battlefield. Realizing that his enemies are his own relatives, beloved friends and revered teachers, he turns to his charioteer and guide, Krishna, for advice.

In summary the main philosophical subject matter of the Bhagavad-gita is the explanation of five basic concepts or "truths":^[30]

Ishvara (The Supreme Controller)
Jiva (Living beings/the soul)
Prakrti (Matter)
Karma (Duty)
Kala (Time)

Krishna counsels Arjuna on the greater idea of dharma or universal harmony and duty. He begins with the tenet that the soul is eternal and immortal.^[31] Any 'death' on the battlefield would involve only the shedding of the body, but the soul is permanent. Arjuna's hesitation stems from a lack of right understanding of the 'nature of things,' the privileging of the unreal over the real. His fear and reticence become impediments to the proper balancing of the universal dharmic order. Essentially, Arjuna wishes to abandon the battle, to abstain from action; Krishna warns, however, that without action, the cosmos would fall out of order and truth would be obscured.

In order to clarify his point, Krishna expounds the various Yoga processes and understanding of the true nature of the universe. Krishna describes the yogic paths of devotional service,^[32] action,^[33] meditation^[34] and knowledge.^[35] Fundamentally, the Bhagavad Gita proposes that true enlightenment comes from growing beyond identification with the temporal ego, the 'False Self', the ephemeral world, so that one identifies with the truth of the immortal self, the absolute soul or Atman. Through detachment from the material sense of ego, the Yogi, or follower of a particular path of Yoga, is able to transcend his/her illusory mortality and attachment to the material world and enter the realm of the Supreme.^[36]

It should be noted, however, that Krishna does not propose that the physical world must be forgotten or neglected. Indeed, it is quite the opposite: one's life on earth must be lived in accordance with greater laws and truths, one must embrace one's temporal duties whilst remaining mindful of a more timeless reality, acting for the sake of action without consideration for the results thereof. Such a life would naturally lead towards stability, happiness and ultimately, enlightenment.

To demonstrate his divine nature, Krishna grants Arjuna the boon of cosmic vision (albeit temporary) and allows the prince to see his 'Universal Form' (this occurs in the eleventh chapter).^[37] He reveals that he is fundamentally both the ultimate essence of Being in the universe and also its material body, called the Vishvarupa ('Universal Form').

In the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna refers to the war about to take place as 'Dharma Yuddha', meaning a righteous war for the purpose of justice. In Chapter 4, Krishna states that he incarnates in each age (yuga) to establish righteousness in the world.^[38]

War as an allegory

There are many who regard the story behind the Gita not as historical fact but as an allegory. Mahatma Gandhi, throughout his life and his own commentary on the Gita,^[39] interpreted the battle as "an allegory in which the battlefield is the soul and Arjuna, man's higher impulses struggling against evil."^[40] Swami Vivekananda also said that the first discourse in the Gita related to war can be taken allegorically.^[41] Vivekananda further remarks, "this Kurukshetra War is only an allegory. When we sum up its esoteric significance, it means the war which is constantly going on within man between the tendencies of good and evil."^[14]

Swami Nikhilananda interprets the war allegorically as follows,^[42]

“

Arjuna represents the individual soul, and Sri Krishna the Supreme Soul dwelling in every heart. Arjuna's chariot is the body. The blind king Dhritarashtra is the mind under the spell of ignorance, and his hundred sons are man's numerous evil tendencies. The battle, a perennial one, is between the power of good and the power of evil. The warrior who listens to the advice of the Lord speaking from within will triumph in this battle and attain the Highest Good.

”

Overview of chapters

The Gita consists of eighteen chapters in total:

Arjuna requests Krishna to move his chariot between the two armies. When Arjuna sees his relatives on the opposing army side of the Kurus, he loses courage and decides not to fight.
After asking Krishna for help, Arjuna is instructed that only the body may be killed, while the eternal self is immortal. Krishna appeals to Arjuna that as a warrior he has a duty to uphold the path of dharma through warfare.
Arjuna asks why he should engage in fighting if knowledge is more important than action. Krishna stresses to Arjuna that performing his duties for the greater good, but without attachment to results is the appropriate course of action.
Krishna reveals that He has lived through many births, always teaching Yoga for the protection of the pious and the destruction of the impious and stresses the importance of accepting a guru.
Arjuna asks Krishna if it is better to forgo action or to act. Krishna answers that both ways may be beneficent, but that acting in Karma Yoga is superior.
Krishna describes the correct posture for meditation and the process of how to achieve samadhi.
Krishna teaches the path of knowledge (Jnana Yoga).
Krishna defines the terms brahman, adhyatma, karma, atman, adhibhuta and adhidaiva and explains how one can remember him at the time of death and attain His supreme abode.
Krishna explains panentheism, "all beings are in Me" as a way of remembering Him in all circumstances.
Krishna describes how He is the ultimate source of all material and spiritual worlds. Arjuna accepts Krishna as the Supreme Being, quoting great sages who have also done so.
On Arjuna's request, Krishna displays His "universal form" (Viśvarūpa), a theophany of a being facing every way and emitting the radiance of a thousand suns, containing all other beings and material in existence.
Krishna describes the process of devotional service (Bhakti Yoga).
Krishna describes nature (prakrti), the enjoyer (purusha) and consciousness.
Krishna explains the three modes (gunas) of material nature.
Krishna describes a symbolic tree (representing material existence), its roots in the heavens and its foliage on earth. Krishna explains that this tree should be felled with the "axe of detachment", after which one can go beyond to his supreme abode.
Krishna tells of the human traits of the divine and the demonic natures. He counsels that to attain the supreme destination one give up lust, anger and greed, discern between right and wrong action by evidence from scripture and thus act rightly.
Krishna tells of three divisions of faith and the thoughts, deeds and even eating habits corresponding to the three gunas.
In conclusion, Krishna asks Arjuna to abandon all forms of dharma and simply surrender unto Him. He describes this as the ultimate perfection of life.

Scripture of Yoga

Part of a series on Hindu scriptures

Vedas Rigveda · Yajurveda · Samaveda · Atharvaveda Divisions Samhita · Brahmana · Aranyaka · Upanishad
Upanishad Aitareya · Brihadaranyaka · Isha · Taittiriya · Chandogya · Kena · Maitri · Mundaka · Mandukya · Katha · Kaushitaki · Prashna · Shvetashvatara
Vedanga Shiksha · Chandas · Vyakarana · Nirukta · Jyotisha · Kalpa
Mahakavya (epics) Mahabharata · Ramayana
Other scriptures Smriti · Śruti · Bhagavad Gita · Purana · Agama · Darshana · Pancharatra · Tantra · Akilathirattu · Sūtra · Stotra · Dharmashastra · Divya Prabandha · Tevaram · Ramacharitamanas · Shikshapatri · Vachanamrut · Ananda Sutram
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The Gita addresses the discord between the senses and the intuition of cosmic order. It speaks of the Yoga of equanimity, a detached outlook. The term Yoga covers a wide range of meanings, but in the context of the Bhagavad Gita, describes a unified outlook, serenity of mind, skill in action and the ability to stay attuned to the glory of the Self (Atman) and the Supreme Being (Bhagavan). According to Krishna, the root of all suffering and discord is the agitation of the mind caused by selfish desire. The only way to douse the flame of desire is by simultaneously stilling the mind through self-discipline and engaging oneself in a higher form of activity.

However, abstinence from action is regarded as being just as detrimental as extreme indulgence. According to the Bhagavad Gita, the goal of life is to free the mind and intellect from their complexities and to focus them on the glory of the Self by dedicating one's actions to the divine. This goal can be achieved through the Yogas of meditation, action, devotion and knowledge. In the sixth chapter, Krishna describes the best Yogi as one who constantly meditates upon him^[43] - which is understood to mean thinking of either Krishna personally, or the supreme Brahman - with different schools of Hindu thought giving varying points of view.

Krishna summarizes the Yogas through eighteen chapters. Three yogas in particular have been emphasized by commentators:

Bhakti Yoga or Devotion,
Karma Yoga or Selfless Action
Jnana Yoga or Self Transcending Knowledge

While each path differs, their fundamental goal is the same - to realize Brahman (the Divine Essence) as being the ultimate truth upon which our material universe rests, that the body is temporal, and that the Supreme Soul (Paramatman) is infinite. Yoga's aim (moksha) is to escape from the cycle of reincarnation through realization of the ultimate reality. There are three stages to self-realization enunciated from the Bhagavad Gita:

1. Brahman - The impersonal universal energy

2. Paramatma - The Supreme Soul sitting in the heart of every living entity.

3. Bhagavan - God as a personality, with a transcendental form.

Major themes of yoga

The influential commentator Madhusudana Sarasvati (b. circa 1490) divided the Gita's eighteen chapters into three sections, each of six chapters. According to his method of division the first six chapters deal with Karma Yoga, which is the means to the final goal, and the last six deal with the goal itself, which he says is Knowledge (Jnana). The middle six deal with bhakti.^[44] Swami Gambhirananda characterizes Madhusudana Sarasvati's system as a successive approach in which Karma yoga leads to Bhakti yoga, which in turn leads to Jnana yoga.^[45] This system has been adopted by later commentators and rejected by others.

Karma Yoga

Main article: Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga is essentially Acting, or doing one's duties in life as per his/her dharma, or duty, without concern of results - a sort of constant sacrifice of action to the Supreme. It is action done without thought of gain. In a more modern interpretation, it can be viewed as duty bound deeds done without letting the nature of the result affecting one's actions. Krishna advocates Nishkam Karma (Selfless Action) as the ideal path to realize the Truth. Allocated work done without expectations, motives, or thinking about its outcomes tends to purify one's mind and gradually makes an individual fit to see the value of reason and the benefits of renouncing the work itself. These concepts are vividly described in the following verses:

"To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction"^[46]

"Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind is called yoga"^[47]

"With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace..."^[48]

In order to achieve true liberation, it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sense pleasures. The following verses illustrate this:^[49]

"When a man dwells in his mind on the object of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger."

"From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence and from the destruction of intelligence he perishes"

Bhakti Yoga

Main article: Bhakti Yoga

According to Catherine Cornille, Associate Professor of Theology at Boston College, "The text [of the Gita] offers a survey of the different possible disciplines for attaining liberation through knowledge (jnana), ritual action (karma) and loving devotion to God (bhakti), focusing on the latter as both the easiest and the highest path to salvation."^[50]

In the introduction to Chapter Seven of the Gita, bhakti is summed up as a mode of worship which consists of unceasing and loving remembrance of God. As M. R. Sampatkumaran explains in his overview of Ramanuja's commentary on the Gita, "The point is that mere knowledge of the scriptures cannot lead to final release. Devotion, meditation and worship are essential."^[51]

As Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita:

"And of all yogins, he who full of faith worships Me, with his inner self abiding in Me, him, I hold to be the most attuned (to me in Yoga)."^[52]

"After attaining Me, the great souls do not incur rebirth in this miserable transitory world, because they have attained the highest perfection."^[53]

"... those who, renouncing all actions in Me, and regarding Me as the Supreme, worship Me... For those whose thoughts have entered into Me, I am soon the deliverer from the ocean of death and transmigration, Arjuna. Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellect on Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter."^[54]

"And he who serves Me with the yoga of unswerving devotion, transcending these qualities [binary opposites, like good and evil, pain and pleasure] is ready for liberation in Brahman."^[55]

"Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, offer service to Me, bow down to Me, and you shall certainly reach Me. I promise you because you are My very dear friend."^[56]

"Setting aside all meritorious deeds (Dharma), just surrender completely to My will (with firm faith and loving contemplation). I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not fear."^[57]

Jnana Yoga

Main article: Jnana Yoga

Jnana Yoga is a process of learning to discriminate between what is real and what is not, what is eternal and what is not. Through a steady advancement in realization of the distinction between Real and the Unreal, the Eternal and the Temporal, one develops into a Jnana Yogi. This is essentially a path of knowledge and discrimination in regards to the difference between the immortal soul (atman) and the body.

In the second chapter, Krishna’s counsel begins with a succinct exposition of Jnana Yoga. Krishna argues that there is no reason to lament for those who are about to be killed in battle, because never was there a time when they were not, nor will there be a time when they will cease to be. Krishna explains that the self (atman) of all these warriors is indestructible. Fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it. It is this Self that passes from body to another body like a person taking worn out clothing and putting on new ones. Krishna’s counsel is intended to alleviate the anxiety that Arjuna feels seeing a battle between two great armies about to commence. However, Arjuna is not an intellectual. He is a warrior, a man of action, for whom the path of action, Karma Yoga, is more appropriate.

"When a sensible man ceases to see different identities due to different material bodies and he sees how beings are expanded everywhere, he attains to the Brahman conception."^[58]

"Those who see with eyes of knowledge the difference between the body and the knower of the body, and can also understand the process of liberation from bondage in material nature, attain to the supreme goal."^[59]

Eighteen Yogas

In Sanskrit editions of the Gita, the Sanskrit text includes a traditional chapter title naming each chapter as a particular form of yoga. These chapter titles do not appear in the Sanskrit text of the Mahabharata.^[60] Since there are eighteen chapters, there are therefore eighteen yogas mentioned, as explained in this quotation from Swami Chidbhavananda:

All the eighteen chapters in the Gita are designated, each as a type of yoga. The function of the yoga is to train the body and the mind.... The first chapter in the Gita is designated as system of yoga. It is called Arjuna Vishada Yogam - Yoga of Arjuna's Dejection.^[61]

In Sanskrit editions, these eighteen chapter titles all use the word yoga, but in English translations the word yoga may not appear. For example, the Sanskrit title of Chapter 1 as given in Swami Sivananda's bilingual edition is arjunaviṣādayogaḥ which he translates as "The Yoga of the Despondency of Arjuna".^[62] Swami Tapasyananda's bilingual edition gives the same Sanskrit title, but translates it as "Arjuna's Spiritual Conversion Through Sorrow".^[63] The English-only translation by Radhakrishnan gives no Sanskrit, but the chapter title is translated as "The Hesitation and Despondency of Arjuna".^[64] Other English translations, such as that by Zaehner, omit these chapter titles entirely.^[65]

Swami Sivananda's commentary says that the eighteen chapters have a progressive order to their teachings, by which Krishna "pushed Arjuna up the ladder of Yoga from one rung to another."^[66] As Winthrop Sargeant explains,

In the model presented by the Bhagavad Gītā, every aspect of life is in fact a way of salvation.^[67]

Dhyana Yoga

Dhyana Yoga is the stilling of the mind and body through meditating techniques, geared at realizing one's true nature. A very similar (if not identical) practice was later described by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras.

To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kusa grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should be neither too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and practice yoga to purify the heart by controlling his mind, senses and activities and fixing the mind on one point. One should hold one's body, neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus, with an unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one should meditate upon Me within the heart and make Me the ultimate goal of life. Thus practicing constant control of the body, mind and activities, the mystic transcendentalist, his mind regulated, attains to the kingdom of God [or the abode of Krishna] by cessation of material existence.

Note: Alternative versions of the above verse state that the top of the nose (between the eyebrows) should be meditated upon, rather than the tip.

Message or the summary of the Gita

Several scholars and philosophers have tried to summarise the central teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.

Scholar Radhakrishnan writes that the verse 11.55 is the "the essence of bhakti" and the "substance of the whole teaching of the Gita"^[70]—

“

He who does work for Me, he who looks upon Me as his goal, he who worships Me, free from attachment, who is free from enmity to all creatures, he goes to Me, O Pandava.

”

Scholar Steven Rosen summarizes the Gita in four nutshell verses,^[71]

“

"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from him. The Wise who fully realize this engage in my devotional service and worship me with all their hearts." (10.8)
"My pure devotees are absorbed in thoughts of me, and they experience fulfillment and bliss by enlightening one another and conversing about me." (10.9)
"To those who are continually devoted and worship me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to me." (10.10)
"Out of compassion for them, I, residing in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance." (10.11)

”

Ramakrishna said that the essential message of the Gita can be obtained by repeating the word several times,^[72] "'Gita, Gita, Gita', you begin, but then find yourself saying 'ta-Gi, ta-Gi, ta-Gi'. Tagi means one who has renounced everything for God."

According to Swami Vivekananda, "If one reads this one Shloka —क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते । क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परंतप॥ — one gets all the merits of reading the entire Gita; for in this one Shloka lies imbedded the whole Message of the Gita."^[73]—

“

Do not yield to unmanliness, O son of Pritha. It does not become you. Shake off this base faint-heartnedness and arise, O scorcher of enemies! (2.3)

”

Mahatma Gandhi writes, "The object of the Gita appears to me to be that of showing the most excellent way to attain self-realization" and Gandhi writes that this can achieved by selfless action—"By desireless action; by renouncing fruits of action; by dedicating all activities to God, i.e., by surrendering oneself to Him body and soul." Gandhi called Gita, The Gospel of Selfless Action.^[74]

Influence

‘‘The Blessed Lord said: I am the inflamed Time (Death), the destroyer of the worlds. I have come to destroy all these people. Even without you, all those warriors arrayed in the opposing armies shall be slain.’’ 11:32

In a heterogeneous text, the Gita reconciles facets and schools of Hindu philosophy, including those of Brahmanical (orthodox Vedic) origin and the parallel ascetic and Yogic traditions. It comprises Upanishadic, Sankhya and Yogic philosophies. It had always been a creative text for Hindu priests and Yogis. Although it is not strictly part of the 'canon' of Vedic writings, almost all Hindu traditions draw upon the Gita as authoritative. For the Vedantic schools of Hindu philosophy, it belongs to one of the three foundational texts Prasthana Trayi (lit. "three points of departure"), the other two being the Upanishads and Brahma Sutras.

"[T]he authority and influence of the Bhagavad Gita is such that...It has been called "India's favourite Bible", and with its emphasis on selfless service it was a prime source of inspiration for Mahatma Gandhi."^[75] Among the great sages and philosophers who have drawn inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who initiated the public singing of the "Hare Krishna" mantra.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original, citing it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. Upon witnessing the world's first nuclear test in 1945, he quoted "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" based on verse 32 from Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita.^[76]^[77]

A 2006 report suggests that the Gita is replacing the influence of the "The Art of War" (ascendant in the 1980s and '90s) in the Western business community.^[78]

The Bhagavad Gita has frequently been cited as part of the complex web of mythic and literary influences on Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian. In his introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of The Bhagavad Gita, Simon Brodbeck writes that the novel "has resonances with the The Bhagavad Gita on many levels. It is set in a time of violence, uncertainty and rapid change, against which is expounded a philosophy of detachment in action."^{[citation needed]}

Commentaries

Traditionally the commentators belong to spiritual traditions or schools (sampradaya) and Guru lineages (parampara), which claim to preserve teaching stemming either directly from Krishna himself or from other sources, each claiming to be faithful to the original message. In the words of Hiriyanna, "[The Gita] is one of the hardest books to interpret, which accounts for the numerous commentaries on it - each differing from the rest in an essential point or the other."^[79]

Different translators and commentators have widely differing views on what multi-layered Sanskrit words and passages signify, and their presentation in English depending on the sampradaya they are affiliated to. Especially in Western philology, interpretations of particular passages often do not agree with traditional views.

The oldest and most influential medieval commentary was that of the founder of the Vedanta school^[80] of extreme 'non-dualism", Shankara (788-820 A. D.),^[81] also known as Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: Śaṅkarācārya).^[82] Shankara's commentary was based on a recension of the Gita containing 700 verses, and that recension has been widely adopted by others.^[83] There is not universal agreement that he was the actual author of the commentary on the Bhagavad Gita that is attributed to him.^[84] A key commentary for the "modified non-dualist" school of Vedanta^[85] was written by Ramanujacharya (Sanskrit: Rāmānujacharya), who lived in the eleventh century A.D.^[82]^[86] Ramanujacharya's commentary chiefly seeks to show that the discipline of devotion to God (Bhakti yoga) is the way of salvation.^[87] The commentary by Madhva, whose dates are given either as (b. 1199 - d. 1276)^[88] or as (b. 1238 - d. 1317),^[67] also known as Madhvacharya (Sanskrit: Madhvācārya), exemplifies thinking of the "dualist" school.^[82] Madhva's school of dualism asserts that there is, in a quotation provided by Winthrop Sargeant, "an eternal and complete distinction between the Supreme, the many souls, and matter and its divisions."^[67] Madhva is also considered to be one of the great commentators reflecting the viewpoint of the Vedanta school.^[89]

In the Shaiva tradition,^[90] the renowned philosopher Abhinavagupta (10-11th century CE) has written a commentary on a slightly variant recension called Gitartha-Samgraha.

Other classical commentators include Nimbarka (1162 AD), Vallabha(1479 AD).,^[91] while Dnyaneshwar (1275-1296 AD) translated and commented on the Gita in Marathi, in his book Dnyaneshwari.

In modern times notable commentaries were written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, who used the text to help inspire the Indian independence movement.^[92]^[93] Tilak wrote his commentary while in jail during the period 1910-1911, while he was serving a six-year sentence imposed by the British colonial government in India for sedition.^[94] While noting that the Gita teaches possible paths to liberation, his commentary places most emphasis on Karma yoga.^[95] No book was more central to Gandhi's life and thought than the Bhagavadgita, which he referred to as his "spiritual dictionary".^[96] During his stay in Yeravda jail in 1929,^[97] Gandhi wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita in Gujarati. The Gujarati manuscript was translated into English by Mahadev Desai, who provided an additional introduction and commentary. It was published with a Foreword by Gandhi in 1946.^[98]^[99] Mahatma Gandhi expressed his love for the Gita in these words:

I find a solace in the Bhagavagītā that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavagītā. I find a verse here and a verse there and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies - and my life has been full of external tragedies - and if they have left no visible, no indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavagītā.^[100]

Three translations: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, a Gujarati translation by Gita Press, and another English one published by Barnes & Noble.

Other notable modern commentators include Sri Aurobindo, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and Swami Vivekananda, who took a syncretistic approach to the text.^[101]^[102]

Swami Vivekananda, the follower of Sri Ramakrishna, was known for his commentaries on the four Yogas - Bhakti, Jnana, Karma and Raja Yoga. He drew from his knowledge of the Gita to expound on these Yogas. Swami Sivananda advises the aspiring Yogi to read verses from the Bhagavad Gita every day. Paramahamsa Yogananda, writer of the famous Autobiography of a Yogi, viewed the Bhagavad Gita as one of the world's most divine scriptures. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, wrote a commentary on the Gita from the perspective of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In 1965 the modern sage Maharishi Mahesh Yogi published his own commentary of the Gita and proclaimed his technique of Transcendental Meditation to be the practical procedure for experiencing the field of absolute Being described by Lord Krishna.^[103]

Translations

Numerous readings and adaptations of the Bhagavad Gita have been published in many languages. In 1785 Charles Wilkins published an English translation of the Bhagavad Gita, which was the first time a Sanskrit book had been translated directly into a European language.^[104] In 1808 passages from the Gita were part of the first direct translation of Sanskrit into German, appearing in a book through which Friedrich Schlegel became known as the founder of Indian philology in Germany.^[105] The Gita has been translated into many other languages. Gita Press, of Gorakhpur, India, publishes the Gita in English and many Indian languages.^[106] The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes the Gita in more than 54 languages.^[107]

The Discovery of India

The Discovery of India
The Discovery of India centenary edition cover.
Author	Nehru, Jawaharlal
Country	India
Language	English
Subject(s)	Indian history, Indian culture, Politics of India, Religion in India, Indian philosophy
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1946
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	584 pp (centenary edition)
ISBN	ISBN 978-0195623598

The Discovery of India (Hindi: भारत एक खोज) was written by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during his imprisonment in 1942-1946 at Ahmednagar in the Ahmednagar Fort.

Nehru was jailed for his participation in the Quit India movement along with other Indian leaders, and he used this time to write down his thoughts and knowledge about India's history. The book is widely regarded as a classic in India since its first publication in 1946, and provides a broad view of Indian history, philosophy and culture, as viewed from the eyes of a liberal Indian fighting for the independence of his country ^[1].

In this book Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru tries to study the history of India starting from the Indus Valley Civilization, and then covers the country's history from the arrival of the Aryans to government under the British Empire. The effect of these various people on Indian culture and their incorporation into Indian society is examined.

This book also analyses in depth the philosophy of Indian life.

Adaptations

In the 1980s, noted director Shyam Benegal made a television miniseries, Bharat Ek Khoj, based on this book; the series was telecast by India's national broadcaster Doordarshan.

Geetanjali

Geetanjali, in Bengali, literally "song-offerings", is a book of poems by the Nobel Prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore. The term has come to signify a type of serenade to god. Geetanjali is an offering, be it a prayer or a song. It is a salutation of respect and of affection.

Geetanjali is also the name of a long standing American radio program on WWUH and [1] at the University of Hartford. It is the longest running radio program in the USA featuring music from India that is both lyrical and exciting in composition. It offers a new dimension in musical appreciation for the Indian fan and Western listener alike, including classical, contemporary, devotional and Bollywood music. It has been serving the needs of Indian listeners by providing wholesome entertainment for more than twenty-seven years.

Jawaharlal Nehru once said that wherever Indians go they take a little piece of India with them. Geetanjali is such an effort to maintain cultural identity through music.

Origin

Geetanjali originated in 1977. The concept was initiated with WWUH by Vinod Gadhia, the then president of India Association of Greater Hartford. Rajas Rangnekar hosted the programme for a few months as a half hour taped show, broadcast 8:00-8:30 PM every Friday.

Father of Geetanjali

Vijay Dixit, known as the father of Geetanjali, took over Geetanjali in 1978 and presented the program for the next 20 years. Dixit displayed an unquenched passion, strong commitment and undying dedication in realizing his futuristic vision for Geetanjali that gave the program its distinct identity and made the program the pioneer radio program of music of India not only in Greater Hartford but in the United States.

Dixit fondly reminisces:

“My first show was in the spring of 1978 and later that year I started to do it live and injected a cultural flavor by adding special shows on major religious and national festivals, and current affairs that impacted India and the United States. Driven by tremendous community support, I was able to increase the show length to full one hour and later to 90 minutes. At that time I introduced a regular classical segment to the show which became extremely popular with the non-Indian audiences. There were suggestions that I do the show in Hindi, but I continued with the English medium mixed with Hindi nuances to preserve Geetanjali's distinctive identity."

Over the years, a number of important luminaries appeared as guests on Geetanjali, live or in recorded interviews. Among them were former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Morarji Desai, all the Indian ambassadors to USA 1980-2000, starting with the late Nani Palkiwala, P. N. Kaul, K. R. Narayanan, Abid Hussain and Naresh Chandra, US Congressman Steven Solarz. Deepak Vohra from the Embassy of India in Washington was a regular guest during the turbulent eighties. I remember that was the time I was threatened by terrorist groups and University of Hartford and WWUH provided me personal on-campus security for protection.”

There were numerous artists who appeared on the show. To name a prominent few, Manna Dey, Bismillah Khan, Amjad Ali Khan, Zakir Hussain, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Ananda Shankar, Rohini Hathangiri and L. Subramanian.”

Dixit retired when he had to move to Minneapolis in 1998 but continues to be an integral part of Geetanjali today as an advisor, guide and supporter.

A man of substance who never talked frivolously, he cherishes those memories with a sense of pride and nostalgia. In his own words,

“There were certainly more pleasant moments for me than the unpleasant ones, and I continue to cherish those memoirs with pride and nostalgia.”

Successors

Kapil Taneja started as a fill in host of Geetanjali in 1984. Dixit was the primary host of Geetanjali and Kapil provided help whenever Dixit needed time off.

This arrangement continued through 1997. Taneja took over the weekly broadcast of Geetanjali when Dixit retired from Geetanjali in 1997. Kapil was active at the radio station until 2002 and brought in Ms. Monica as a host and also recruited Mr Anand Shukla.

Taneja continues be a strong supporter of Geetanjali and WWUH in the Greater Hartford Community. He is a strong believer in the role Geetanjali plays in the lives of first generation Indians and American citizens with an interest in Indian culture, living in the Greater Hartford area. Geetanjali not only entertains, but also informs the listeners about Indian theme events in the area and educates listeners about Indian culture and Indian American issues.

Geetanjali: then and now

Geetanjali enjoyed a glorious status in the past. Although reaping the benefit of its success even today, frankly speaking, Geetanjali has deviated from the path and the goals it set out to achieve: To act as a cultural window to India through the medium of music with a primary purpose of providing wholesome entertainment. Of late, Geetanjali has become a synonym of popular music and more specifically Bollywood music mainly because there is a huge listener base for this type of music. There is so much abundance and variety of Indian music and it is unfortunate it is not exploited fully. The listener base is for Indian classical music that Dixit worked so hard to build is falling.

Tagore said once, “The muffled foot-steps of the past beat in our blood.” Muffled by some not so bright patches in the history of the last 27 years, it is those foot-steps which need to be heard again.

Kama Sutra

The Kama Sutra (Sanskrit: कामसूत्र), (alternative spellings: Kamasutram or simply Kamasutra), is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Vatsyayana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sex.^[1]

The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra (Sanskrit: Kāma Śhāstra).^[2] Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind.^[3]

Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra is a compendium that was collected into its present form in the second century CE.^[4]

Regarding how the composition became known to the Western world, the translation, popularly attributed to Sir Richard Francis Burton, says the following in its introduction:

It may be interesting to some persons to learn how it came about that Vatsyayana was first brought to light and translated into the English language. It happened thus. While translating with the pundits the `Anunga Runga, or the stage of love', reference was frequently found to be made to one Vatsya. The sage Vatsya was of this opinion, or of that opinion. The sage Vatsya said this, and so on. Naturally questions were asked who the sage was, and the pundits replied that Vatsya was the author of the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature, that no Sanscrit library was complete without his work, and that it was most difficult now to obtain in its entire state. The copy of the manuscript obtained in Bombay was defective, and so the pundits wrote to Benares, Calcutta and Jaipur for copies of the manuscript from Sanskrit libraries in those places. Copies having been obtained, they were then compared with each other, and with the aid of a Commentary called `Jayamangla' a revised copy of the entire manuscript was prepared, and from this copy the English translation was made. The following is the certificate of the chief pundit:

`The accompanying manuscript is corrected by me after comparing four different copies of the work. I had the assistance of a Commentary called "Jayamangla" for correcting the portion in the first five parts, but found great difficulty in correcting the remaining portion, because, with the exception of one copy thereof which was tolerably correct, all the other copies I had were far too incorrect. However, I took that portion as correct in which the majority of the copies agreed with each other.'

Content

The Mallanaga Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. According to both the Burton and Doniger^[6] translations, the contents of the book are structured into 7 parts like the following:

1. Introductory: Chapters on contents of the book, three aims and priorities of life, the acquisition of knowledge, conduct of the well-bred townsman, reflections on intermediaries who assist the lover in his enterprises (5 chapters).
2. On sexual union: Chapters on stimulation of desire, types of embraces, caressing and kisses, marking with nails, biting and marking with teeth, on copulation (positions), slapping by hand and corresponding moaning, virile behavior in women, superior coition and oral sex, preludes and conclusions to the game of love. It describes 64 types of sexual acts (10 chapters).

Artistic depiction of a sex position. Although Kama Sutra did not originally have illustrative images, part 2 of the work describes different sex positions.
3. About the acquisition of a wife: Chapters on forms of marriage, relaxing the girl, obtaining the girl, managing alone, union by marriage (5 chapters).
4. About a wife: Chapters on conduct of the only wife and conduct of the chief wife and other wives (2 chapters).
5. About other wives: Chapters on behavior of woman and man, how to get acquainted, examination of sentiments, the task of go-between, the king's pleasures, behavior in the women's quarters (6 chapters).
6. About courtesans: Chapters on advice of the assistants on the choice of lovers, looking for a steady lover, ways of making money, renewing friendship with a former lover, occasional profits, profits and losses (6 chapters).
7. On the means of attracting others to one's self: Chapters on improving physical attractions, arousing a weakened sexual power (2 chapters).

Pleasure and spirituality

Some Indian philosophies following the "four main goals of life" known as the purusharthas:

1). Dharma: Virtuous living. 2). Artha: Material prosperity. 3). Kama: Aesthetic and erotic pleasure.^[10]^[11] 4). Moksha: Liberation.

Dharma, Artha and Kama are aims of everyday life, while Moksha is release from the cycle of death and rebirth. The Kama Sutra (Burton translation) says:

"Dharma is better than Artha, and Artha is better than Kama. But Artha should always be first practised by the king for the livelihood of men is to be obtained from it only. Again, Kama being the occupation of public women, they should prefer it to the other two, and these are exceptions to the general rule." (Kama Sutra 1.2.14)^[12]

Of the first three, virtue is the highest goal, a secure life the second and pleasure the least important. When motives conflict, the higher ideal is to be followed. Thus, in making money virtue must not be compromised, but earning a living should take precedence over pleasure, but there are exceptions.

In childhood, Vātsyāyana says, a person should learn how to make a living; youth is the time for pleasure, and as years pass one should concentrate on living virtuously and hope to escape the cycle of rebirth.^[13]

The Kama Sutra is sometimes wrongly thought of as a manual for tantric sex. While sexual practices do exist within the very wide tradition of Hindu tantra, the Kama Sutra is not a tantric text, and does not touch upon any of the sexual rites associated with some forms of tantric practice.

Also the Buddha preached a Kama Sutra, which is located in the Atthakavagga (sutra number 1). This Kama Sutra, however, is of a very different nature as it warns against the dangers that come with the search for pleasures of the senses.

Translations

The most widely known English translation of the Kama Sutra was privately printed in 1883. It is usually attributed to the notorious traveler and author Sir Richard Francis Burton, but the chief work was done by the pioneering Indian archeologist, Bhagvanlal Indraji, under the guidance of Burton's friend, the Indian civil servant Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot, and with the assistance of a student, Shivaram Parshuram Bhide ^[14]. Burton acted as publisher, while also furnishing the edition with footnotes whose tone ranges from the jocular to the scholarly.

In the introduction to her own translation, Wendy Doniger, professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, notes that Burton "managed to get a rough approximation of the text published in English in 1883, nasty bits and all". The philologist and Sanskritist Professor Chlodwig Werba, of the Institute of Indology at the University of Vienna, regards the 1883 translation as being second only in accuracy to the academic German-Latin text published by Richard Schmidt in 1897. ^[15]

The English translation by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, the Indian psychoanalyst and senior fellow at Center for Study of World Religions at Harvard University is becoming regarded as the standard text; it was published by Oxford University Press in 2002. Doniger contributed the Sanskrit expertise while Kakar provided a psychoanalytic interpretation of the text.^[16]

Two other noteworthy translations are those of Indra Sinha and Alain Daniélou. Sinha's was published in 1980. In the early 1990s its chapter on lovemaking positions began circulating on the internet as an independent text and today is often assumed to be the whole of the Kama Sutra.^[17] Alain Daniélou contributed a translation called The Complete Kama Sutra^[18] in 1994. This translation, originally into French, and thence into English, featured the original text attributed to Vatsayana, along with a medieval and modern commentary. Unlike the 1883 version, Alain Danielou's new translation preserves the numbered verse divisions of the original and includes two essential commentaries: the Jayamangala commentary, written in Sanskrit by Yashodhara during the Middle Ages, and a modern Hindi commentary by Devadatta Shastri.

Kumārasambhava

Kumārasambhava (Sanskrit: कुमारसम्भव, IAST: Kumāra-sambhava) is an Sanskrit epic poem written by the illustrious poet Kālidāsa. It is one of the most important examples of Kāvya poetry.

Kumārasambhava literally means "Birth of Kumara", i.e. Kartikeya. This epic of seventeen [[canto]s entails Shringara Rasa, the rasa of love, romance, and eroticism, more than Vira rasa (the rasa of heroism). Tarakasur, a rakshasha (or demon) was blessed that he could be killed by none other than Lord Shiva's son, however, Shiva had won over Kama-deva (the god of love). Parvathi performed great tapasya (or spiritual penance) to win the love of Lord Shiva. Consequently, Shiva and Parvati's son Kartikeya is born and kills Tarakasur to restore the glory of Indra, the king of Gods.

Kālidāsa had left his home in pursuit of knowledge and to become worthy of his intellectual wife Vidyottama (lit. "epitome of erudition"). When he returned from this conquest, his wife asked, "Asti Kashchit Wagvisheshah" ("Have you attained any evident erudition which should prompt me to extend a special welcome to you?") Kālidāsa impressed his wife with the answer she expected and over next few years created three great epics based on the three letters uttered by his wife: 'Asti' - Kumarsambhava, 'Kashchit' - Meghaduta, and 'Wagvisheshah' - Raghuvamsha. It is said that Kālidāsa was cursed with leprosy when he completed the eighth canto describing the act of love between Lord Shiva and Parvati. Some also believe that the rest of the epic was completed by an eponymous writer.

Ramayana

Part of a series on Hindu scriptures

Vedas Rigveda · Yajurveda · Samaveda · Atharvaveda Divisions Samhita · Brahmana · Aranyaka · Upanishad
Upanishad Aitareya · Brihadaranyaka · Isha · Taittiriya · Chandogya · Kena · Maitri · Mundaka · Mandukya · Katha · Kaushitaki · Prashna · Shvetashvatara
Vedanga Shiksha · Chandas · Vyakarana · Nirukta · Jyotisha · Kalpa
Mahakavya (epics) Mahabharata · Ramayana
Other scriptures Smriti · Śruti · Bhagavad Gita · Purana · Agama · Darshana · Pancharatra · Tantra · Akilathirattu · Sūtra · Stotra · Dharmashastra · Divya Prabandha · Tevaram · Ramacharitamanas · Shikshapatri · Vachanamrut · Ananda Sutram
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The Rāmāyaṇa (Devanāgarī: रामायण) is an ancient Sanskrit epic thought to have been compiled between approximately 400 BCE and 200 CE, attributed to the Hindu sage (maharishi) Valmiki and an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). It was the original story on which other versions were based such as the Khmer Reamker, the Thai Ramakien, the Lao Phra Lak Phra Lam the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama and the Maranao Darengan. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters, such as the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife, and the ideal king.

The name Rāmāyaṇa is a tatpurusha compound of Rāma and ayana "going, advancing", translating to "Rāma's Journey".^[1] The Rāmāyaṇa consists of 24,000 verses^[2] in seven books, and 500 cantos (kāṇḍas)^[3] and tells the story of Lord Rāma, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon (Rākshasa) king of Lanka, Rāvana. Thematically, the epic explores themes of human existence and the concept of dharma.^[4]

Verses in Rāmāyana are written in thirty two syllable meter called anustubh and the epic was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Indian life and culture, primarily through its establishment of the śloka meter. But, like its epic cousin the Mahābhārata, the Rāmāyana is not just an ordinary story. It contains the teachings of the very ancient Hindu sages and presents them through allegory in narrative and the interspersion of the philosophical and the devotional. The characters of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Hanumān and Rāvana (the villain of the piece) are all fundamental to the cultural consciousness of India.

One of the most important literary works on ancient India, the Ramayana has had a profound impact on art and culture in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The story of Rama has inspired great amounts of latter-day literature in various languages, notable among which are the works of the Tamil poet Kambar of the 13th century, Molla ramayanam in Telugu and the 14th century Kannada poet Narahari Kavi's Torave Ramayan,fifteenth century Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, known as the Krittivasi Ramayan and the sixteenth century Hindi poet Tulsidas. The Ramayana became popular in Southeast Asia during the 8th century and was represented in literature, temple architecture, dance and theater.

Authorship

Traditionally, Ramayana is ascribed to a single author, Vālmiki. Textual scholar Robert P. Goldman concludes that, in the face of unanimous Indian tradition and the uniform character of much of the work, there is no reason to believe that a man named Valmiki did not write the main portion of the Ramayana. However, the work as it is now known is believed to have many interpolations of a much later date than the original kernel of the work. ^[5] The Ramayana was a "growth of centuries, but the main story is the creation of one mind."^[6]

Valmiki (Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, vālmīki) (ca. 400 BC, northern India)[1] is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic, Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself[2]. He is the inventor of the vedic poetic meter shloka, which defined the form of the Sanskrit poetry in many latter works.

He is revered as the first poet in Hinduism. There is also a religious movement based on Valmiki's teachings as presented in the Ramayana and the Yogavashista called Valmikism. .

The Story

Rama (right) seated on the shoulders of Hanuman, battles the demon-king Ravana.

Valmiki's Ramayana, the oldest version of Ramayana, is the basis of the various versions of the Ramayana that are relevant in different cultures. The text survives in numerous complete and partial manuscripts, the oldest surviving of which is dated from the eleventh century AD.^[7] The current text of Valmiki Ramayana has come down to us in two regional versions from the north and the south of India. Valmiki Ramayana has been traditionally divided into seven books, dealing with the life of Rama from his birth to his death.

The story is about Rama, a prince in the city of Ayodhya - the capital of Kosala kingdom, belonging to Suryavansh (the Sun dynasty) - sometimes referred to as Raghuvansh (Raghu dynasty, named after Raghu, one of his illustrious forefathers). The story starts just before his birth and ends after his death when his two sons ascend to power.

The story operates at multiple levels: at one level, it describes the society at that time: vast empires, the life of a prince destined to become the next king, the rivalry between mothers and stepmothers, the bond of affection and loyalty between brothers, contests to win the hands of a princess, etc. At a second level, it describes how an ethical human being and a leader of men conducts himself at all times, facing situations with equanimity, rising to occasions to lead his people independent of his own personal tragedies and limitations, cultivating affection and respect of his people. At yet another level, it is a story of the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, incarnating as a human this time, combating evil, restoring justice in the land, fully aware of his divinity and yet resorting to using his superhuman powers only when absolutely necessary.

The story is as follows: Dasaratha, the king of Kosala, has been childless for a long time, and is anxious to produce an heir. He performs a ritual (Puthrakameshti Yagna) for the gods to bless him with progeny. The gods present him with a bowl of divine nectar. His three queens partake of this, and in due course four princes - Rama, Lakshmana and Shatrughna (twins), and Bharata - are born to them. Rama, being the eldest, is naturally being groomed as the future king. All the brothers are close-knit, with Lakshmana forming the closest bond with Rama. Together, they are schooled in archery. Vishwaamitra, one of the legendary seven sages of Hindu mythology, trains them in the art of firing missile-arrows imbued with power by secret chants that can cause them to shower fire or water on enemies, and even follow them through the seven worlds until they are killed.

The route Ram Followed in his exile in Terta Yuga

Vishwamitra leads Rama and Lakshmana to Mithila, the capital city of the kingdom of Videha ruled by king Janaka. Janaka's daughter Sita (also called Janaki, Vaidehi, Mythili) is to wed, and the king is holding a contest to select the best prince for his daughter. Rama wins the contest and returns home to Ayodhya with his new bride.

The time comes for Dasaratha to coronate Rama as the next king. Kaikeyi, the third and youngest of Dasaratha's queens, reminds her husband of his promise to her a long time ago that he would grant her any two wishes she had. This happened on an occasion when Dasaratha was wounded in his chariot on the battlefield, and Kaikeyi saved his life by taking over the reins and driving the chariot to safety. Kaikeyi demands that her son Bharata be the next king, and that Rama is banished to the forest (see: vanvas) for fourteen years, in order to prevent him from damaging Bharata's rule. The king, unable to refuse these wishes agrees. The coronation preparations are halted and Rama told to prepare to leave for the forest. At first, Rama wants to go to the forest alone, but Sita and Lakshmana will have none of it and convince Rama that, for them, "Ayodhya is wherever Rama is".

The king descends into despair when the three leave for the forest, and dies soon afterwards. All this while, Bharata and Shatrughna have been away from the kingdom. They are summoned upon their father's death, and when they arrive, are told what has happened. Bharata is aghast at his mother's greed (ostensibly for his good), and promises that he will restore Rama as king. He travels to the forest to convince Rama to return to Ayodhya. Rama refuses on the grounds that he must obey his father's command but allows Bharata to take Rama's sandals back to Ayodhya so that Bharata can symbolically enthrone Rama's sandals and rule as regent for Rama.

The story details with the experiences of the trio in the forest, especially how the royals, used to soft living and multitudes of servants, train themselves to live frugally amongst nature and be self-sufficient. It also covers the interactions between them and the various hermits and sages living in the forest, some of who realize the divinity of Rama. Rama and Lakshmana frequently battle the forest demons that disturb the hermits' meditations.

Soorpanaka (One of the demons who had been defeated by them) decides to take revenge. She describes the beauty of Sita to her brother, Ravana, the demon king of Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka). Ravana decides that he must possess Sita, and has one of his brothers take the form of a deer to attract Sita's attention. Sita sends out Rama to capture the deer for her as a pet. The deer leads Rama far away from their cottage, and when Rama realizes that this is no ordinary deer, he kills it. The dying demon shouts Sita's and Lakshmana's names in Rama's voice, causing Sita to send Lakshmana out to help Rama. When the cottage is thus unguarded, Ravana sweeps in, kidnaps Sita and flies off to Lanka. When Rama sees Lakshmana approaching him, he at once realizes the trick. They both run back to the cottage to find it empty.

Places Related to Ramayana

The rest of the story is about how Rama and Lakshmana travel to Lanka to fight and kill the demon king and to get Sita back. They start out by travelling south (in the direction Ravana was seen to have flown with Sita), killing demons and helping hermits and sages along the way, until they reach Kishkinda, where Rama befriends Sugriva, the king of a troupe of monkeys. His belief that they're on the right track is reinforced when the monkeys show him a bundle of jewels that fell from the sky - Sita had removed her jewels and dropped them to earth while being carried away. Sugriva sends groups of monkeys in all four directions to scout out the location of Raavana. The group that travels south contains Hanumaan, Sugriva's minister. Being the son of the Wind God, Hanumaan is endowed with supernatural strength and powers. When the troupe reaches the southern tip of India and are at a loss as how they were to proceed, Hanumaan decides to leap across the sea to Lanka and continue the search there. He locates Sita imprisoned there, identifies himself, and assures her that help is coming. He also has skirmishes with the demon king's army and informs Ravana that his days are numbered.

Upon Hanumaan's return from Lanka, the entire monkey army and Rama and Lakshmana march to Lanka (building a bridge across the sea that Hanumaan leapt across), battle against Ravana's army for eighteen months and demolish the kingdom. Sita is restored to Rama. Rama commands Sita to walk through fire to prove that she had remained faithful to him during his absence, and Sita passes through the fire unscathed.

By this time the required period of exile of fourteen years has come to an end. Rama returns to Ayodhya and is crowned as king. He rules as a just king for several decades. He exiles Sita to the forest when he overhears a conversation casting doubts on her fidelity: "unlike Sita, my wife has never left my household". In the forest, Sita, now pregnant with Rama's twins, is taken care of by the sage Vaalmiki (another one of the seven legendary sages of Hindu mythology). (Many stories in Hindu mythology have some autobiographical segments, where the author features in the story.) Rama's twin sons Lava and Kusha are born and brought up in the sage's hermitage.

As emperor, Rama performs a horse sacrifice (Ashwamedha Yagna) to enlarge his empire. (The horse sacrifice is a ritual where an emperor sends out a horse accompanied by a huge army to various neighboring lands. Into whichever kingdom the horse wanders, the local king can allow the horse to wander - signalling that his kingdom may be annexed, or tie up the horse - indicating that he's ready to battle the emperor's army to prevent his kingdom from being annexed. The horse wanders into the forest where Rama's twin sons live and they tie the horse, not knowing its significance. When confronted by the accompanying army, they refuse to untie the horse and soundly defeat the army. (They had been trained in arms by the sage Vaalmiki since he knew that one day they would be kings.) Rama hears of this and guesses that two youths at a hermitage who can defeat an entire army can be no ordinary children, and goes to see them himself and meets his sons for the first time. He also meets Sita again.

Some time later, when the sons are grown up, Sita decides that her time on the earth is nearing its end, and ends her life by asking mother earth to open and swallow her. The sons go Ayodhya to live with their father until they inherit the kingdom.

The epic contains the following books:

Bala Kanda – Book of the Childhood (birth and training of the princes and marriage of the princes)
Ayodhya Kanda – Book of Ayodhya (life in Ayodhya as a prince after marriage to Sita)
Aranya Kanda – Book of the Forest (life in exile in the forest)
Kishkindha Kanda – Book of Kishkindha (life in the kingdom of monkeys - on their search for the captured Seetha) ^[8]
Sundara Kanda – Book of Auspiciousness (Hanumaan's journey to Lanka and his meeting with Seetha)
Yuddha Kanda – Book of the War (battle between Raama's armies and Raavana's armies)
Uttara Kanda – Book of the Afterword (Epilogue: Raama's life after returning to Ayodhya and Sita's second exile)

There have been speculations on whether the first and the last chapters of Valmiki's Ramayan were written by the original author. Many experts are of the opinion that they are integral parts of the book in spite of the many differences in style and some contradictions in content between these two chapters and the rest of the book.^[9]^[10] It is believed that Uttar Kanda was written by Tulisadas because there is no reference to this chapter in Valmiki's Ramayan. These two chapters contain most of the interpolations found in the Ramayana, such as the miraculous birth of Rama and his divine nature as well as the numerous legends surrounding Ravana. It is also inferred that the story of Rama's beheading shudra Shambuka as well as the one relating to Shravana kumara were not written by Valmiki.

Characters

Rama seated with Sita, fanned by Lakshamana, while the monkey-god Hanuman pays his respects.

Rama is the hero of this epic tale. He is portrayed as an incarnation of the god Vishnu. He is the eldest and the favorite son of the King of Ayodhya, Dasharatha. He is a popular prince loved by one and all. He is the epitome of virtue. Dasharatha, is forced by one of his wives Kaikeyi to command Rama to relinquish his right to the throne for fourteen years and go into exile . While in exile, Rama kills the demon king Ravana using an arrow.
Sita is the beloved wife of Rama and the daughter of king Janaka. Sita is also known as Janaki. She is the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi (Lord Vishnu's wife). Sita is the epitome of female purity and virtue. She follows her husband into exile and there gets abducted by Ravana. She is imprisoned on the island of Lanka by Ravan. Rama rescues her by defeating the demon king Ravana.
Hanuman is a vanara belonging to the kingdom of Kishkindha. He is portrayed as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He worships Rama and helps find Sita by going to the kingdom of Lanka crossing the great ocean.
Lakshmana, the younger brother of Rama, who chose to go into exile with him.He is portrayed as an incarnation of the Sheshnag Kaal. He spends his time protecting Sita and Rama. He is forced to leave Sita, who was deceived by the demon Mareecha into believing that Rama was in trouble. Sita is abducted by Ravana upon him leaving her.
Ravana, a rakshasa, is the king of Lanka. After performing severe penance for ten thousand years he received a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed by either gods, demons or spirits. He has ten heads and twenty arms, the former of which he began to cut off and throw into the sacrificial fire until Lord Brahma appeared to him. After getting his reward from Brahma, Ravana begins to lay waste the earth and disturbs the deeds of the good Rishis. Vishnu incarnates as the human Rama to defeat him, thus circumventing the boon given by Brahma.
Dasharatha is the king of Ayodhya and the father of Rama. He has three queens, Kousalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi, and three other sons; Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Kaikeyi, Dasharatha's favourite queen forces him to make his son Bharata crown prince and send Rama into exile. Dashratha dies heartbroken after Rama goes into exile.
Bharata is the second son of Dasharatha. When he learns that his mother Kaikeyi had forced Rama into exile and caused Dasharatha to die broken hearted, he storms out of the palace and goes in search of Rama. When Rama refuses to return from his exile to assume the throne, Bharata obtains Rama's sandals and places them on the throne as a gesture that Rama is the true king. Bharata then rules Ayodhya as the regent of Rama for the next fourteen years.
Vishvamitra is the sage who takes Rama into the forest in order to defeat the demons destroying his Yagna ceremonies. On the way back he takes Rama into Mithila where Rama and Sita meet each other for the first time and Rama participates in her swayamvara.

Theological Significance

Rama, the hero of Ramayana, is a popular deity worshiped in the Hindu religion. Each year, many devout pilgrims trace his journey through India, halting at each of the holy sites along the way. The poem is not seen as just a literary monument, it serves as an integral part of Hinduism, and is held in such reverence that the mere reading or hearing of it, or certain passages of it, is believed by the Hindus to free them from sin and shower blessings upon the reader or listener. According to Hindu tradition, Rama is an incarnation (Avatar), of the god Vishnu. The main purpose of this incarnation is to demonstrate the righteous path (dharma) for all living creatures on Earth.

Contemporary versions

Hanuman as depicted in Yakshagana, popular folk art of Karnataka

The TV serial by Ramanand Sagar contains a vast, near comprehensive collection of stories drawn from many different retellings of the Ramayana.

Other contemporary versions of the Ramayana include Sri Ramayana Darshanam by Dr. K. V. Puttappa (Kuvempu) in Kannada and Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu by Viswanatha Satyanarayana in Telugu, both of which have been awarded the Jnanpith Award. A prose version called Geet Ramayan (Geet = song) in Marathi by G.D. (Gajanan Digambar) Madgulkar (also known as Ga Di Madgulkar or GaDiMA) was rendered in Music by Sudhir Phadke and is considered to be a masterpiece of Marathi literature. The popular Indian author R. K. Narayan wrote a shortened prose interpretation of the epic, and another modern Indian author, Ashok Banker, has so far written a series of six English language novels based on the Ramayana. In September 2006, the first issue of Ramayan 3392 A.D. was published by Virgin Comics, featuring the Ramayana as reinvisioned by author Deepak Chopra and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.

The Ramayana has been adapted on screen as well, in a television series from the 1980s of the same name by producer Ramanand Sagar, which was based primarily off of the Ramcharitmanas and Valmiki Ramayana. In the late 90s, Sanjay Khan made a series called Jai Hanuman. This series not only recounted the stories of the birth, childhood and later life of Hanuman but also chronicled in detail the life of the various other characters in the Ramayana like Rama, Ravana, Sita, Meghanada, Mandodari, Dasharatha, Janaka, Bali and Sugreeva etc as well as some lesser known characters. This serial was based on various sources including Valmiki Ramayana, Ramacharitmanas, Krittivas Ramayana, Ananda Ramayana, Adhyatma Ramayana, Paumacariyam etc. A Japanese animated film called Rama - The Prince of Light was also released in the early 1990s.

US animation artist Nina Paley retold the Ramayana from Sita's point of view (with a secondary story about Paley's own marriage) in the animated musical Sita Sings the Blues.

Amboo Sharma, depicted in the Sahitya Akademi's "Whos who of Indian Writers" both as 'Amboo Sharma' and as 'Ambika Charan Mhamia' is a 74 year-old Rajasthani scholar and journalist living in Calcutta (Kolkata), India. He is the author of a modern day Ramayana in Rajasthani language named, AMBOO RAMAYANA. it is an epic written in thousands of verses and an original composition against a popular belief that it must also be a poetic translation of the original Valmiki Ramayana. Sharma has also written many a literary books in Rajasthani and most of them were published long ago. These include--MAHABHARAT SATSAI and YEESHU HAZARO, poetic translation of one thousand verses from Bible. All his published books are almost out of print but one copy of each can be seen at the National Library, Kolkata. Sharma has been publishing and editing a Rajasthani socio-literary monthly magazine, NENASI (named after the ancient historian of earstwhile Rajputana, Nainasingh Muhnot) for the last 30 years from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. His research work on Rajasthani Manuscripts has been published by The Asiatic Society, Calcutta.

Portions of the epic are also featured in the movie, A Little Princess.

Scope

Part of a series on Hindu scriptures

Vedas Rigveda · Yajurveda · Samaveda · Atharvaveda Divisions Samhita · Brahmana · Aranyaka · Upanishad
Upanishad Aitareya · Brihadaranyaka · Isha · Taittiriya · Chandogya · Kena · Maitri · Mundaka · Mandukya · Katha · Kaushitaki · Prashna · Shvetashvatara
Vedanga Shiksha · Chandas · Vyakarana · Nirukta · Jyotisha · Kalpa
Mahakavya (epics) Mahabharata · Ramayana
Other scriptures Smriti · Śruti · Bhagavad Gita · Purana · Agama · Darshana · Pancharatra · Tantra · Akilathirattu · Sūtra · Stotra · Dharmashastra · Divya Prabandha · Tevaram · Ramacharitamanas · Shikshapatri · Vachanamrut · Ananda Sutram
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Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, the Mahabharata contains much philosophical and devotional material, such as the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita (6.25-42), or a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusharthas (12.161). The latter are enumerated as dharma (righteousness), artha (purpose), kama (pleasure), and moksha (liberation).

The Mahabharata claims all-inclusiveness at the beginning of its first parva ("book"): "What is found here, may be found elsewhere. What is not found here, will not be found elsewhere." Among the principal works and stories that are a part of the Mahabharata are the following (often considered isolated as works in their own right):

the Bhagavad Gita in book 6 (Bhishmaparva): Krishna advises and teaches Arjuna when he is ridden with doubt.
the Damayanti or Nala and Damayanti in book 3 (Aranyakaparva), a war story.
An abbreviated version of the Ramayana, in book 3 (Aranyakaparva)
Rishyasringa, the horned boy and rishi, in book 3 (Aranyakaparva)

Textual history and structure

The epic is traditionally ascribed to Vyasa, who is also one of the major dynastic characters within the epic. The first section of the Mahabharata states that it was Ganesha who, at the request of Vyasa, wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation. Ganesha is said to have agreed to write it only on condition that Vyasa never pause in his recitation. Vyasa agreed, providing that Ganesha took the time to understand what was said before writing it down. The epic employs the story within a story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and secular works.

It is recited to the King Janamejaya who is the great-grandson of Arjuna, by Vaisampayana, a disciple of Vyasa. The recitation of Vaisampayana to Janamejaya is then recited again by a professional story teller named Ugrasrava Sauti, many years later, to an assemblage of sages.

It is usually thought that the full length of the Mahabharata has accreted over a long period. The Mahabharata itself (1.1.61) distinguishes a core portion of 24,000 verses, the Bharata proper, as opposed to additional secondary material, while the Ashvalayana Grhyasutra (3.4.4) makes a similar distinction. According to the Adi-parva of the Mahabharata (shlokas 81, 101-102), the text was originally 8,800 verses when it was composed by Vyasa and was known as the Jaya (Victory), which later became 24,000 verses in the Bharata recited by Vaisampayana, and finally over 90,000 verses in the Mahabharata recited by Ugrasrava Sauti.^[5]

As with the field of Homeric studies, research on the Mahabharata has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating various layers within the text. The state of the text has struck early 20th century Indologists as "chaotic" or "unordered".^[6]

The earliest known references to the Mahabharata and its core Bharata date back to the Ashtadhyayi (sutra 6.2.38) of Pāṇini (fl. 4th century BC), and in the Ashvalayana Grhyasutra (3.4.4). This may suggest that the core 24,000 verses, known as the Bharata, as well as an early version of the extended Mahabharata, were composed by the 4th century BC. Parts of the Jaya's original 8,800 verses possibly may date back as far as the 9th-8th century BC.^[2]

The Greek writer Dio Chrysostom (ca. 40-120) reported, "it is said that Homer's poetry is sung even in India, where they have translated it into their own speech and tongue. The result is that...the people of India...are not unacquainted with the sufferings of Priam, the laments and wailings of Andromache and Hecuba, and the valor of both Achilles and Hector: so remarkable has been the spell of one man's poetry!"^[7] Despite the passage's evident face-value meaning—that the Iliad had been translated into Sanskrit—some scholars have supposed that the report reflects the existence of a Mahabharata at this date, whose episodes Dio or his sources syncretistically identify with the story of the Iliad. Christian Lassen, in his Indische Alterthumskunde, supposed that the reference is ultimately to Dhritarashtra's sorrows, the laments of Gandhari and Draupadi, and the valor of Arjuna and Suyodhana or Karna.^[8] This interpretation, endorsed in such standard references as Albrecht Weber's History of Indian Literature, has often been repeated without specific reference to what Dio's text says.^[9]

Later, the copper-plate inscription of the Maharaja Sharvanatha (533-534) from Khoh (Satna District, Madhya Pradesh) describes the Mahabharata as a "collection of 100,000 verses" (shatasahasri samhita). The redaction of this large body of text was carried out after formal principles, emphasizing the numbers 18^[10] and 12. The addition of the latest parts may be dated by the absence of the Anushasana-parva from MS Spitzer, the oldest surviving Sanskrit philosophical manuscript dated to the first century, that contains among other things a list of the books in the Mahabharata. From this evidence, it is likely that the redaction into 18 books took place in the first century. An alternative division into 20 parvas appears to have co-existed for some time. The division into 100 sub-parvas (mentioned in Mbh. 1.2.70) is older, and most parvas are named after one of their constituent sub-parvas. The Harivamsa consists of the final two of the 100 sub-parvas, and was considered an appendix (khila) to the Mahabharata proper by the redactors of the 18 parvas.

The 18 parvas

The division into 18 parvas is as follows:

Parva	title	sub-parvas	contents
1	Adi Parva (The Book of the Beginning)	1-19	How the Mahabharata came to be narrated by Sauti to the assembled rishis at Naimisharanya. The recital of the Mahabharata at the Sarpasatra of Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at Takṣaśilā. The history of the Bharata race is told in detail and the parva also traces history of the Bhrigu race. The birth and early life of the Kuru princes. (adi means first)
2	Sabha Parva (The Book of the Assembly Hall)	20-28	Maya Danava erects the palace and court (sabha), at Indraprastha. Life at the court, Yudhishthira's Rajasuya Yajna, the game of dice, and the eventual exile of the Pandavas.
3	Vana Parva also Aranyaka-parva, Aranya-parva (The Book of the Forest)	29-44	The twelve years of exile in the forest (aranya).
4	Virata Parva (The Book of Virata)	45-48	The year in incognito spent at the court of Virata.
5	Udyoga Parva (The Book of the Effort)	49-59	Preparations for war and efforts to bring about peace between the Kurus and the Pandavas which eventually fail (udyoga means effort or work).
6	Bhishma Parva (The Book of Bhishma)	60-64	The first part of the great battle, with Bhishma as commander for the Kauravas and his fall on the bed of arrows.
7	Drona Parva (The Book of Drona)	65-72	The battle continues, with Drona as commander. This is the major book of the war. Most of the great warriors on both sides are dead by the end of this book.
8	Karna Parva (The Book of Karna)	73	The battle again, with Karna as commander.
9	Shalya Parva (The Book of Shalya)	74-77	The last day of the battle, with Shalya as commander. Also told in detail is the pilgrimage of Balarama to the fords of the river Saraswati and the mace fight between Bheema and Duryodhana which ends the war.
10	Sauptika-parva (The Book of the Sleeping Warriors)	78-80	Ashvattama, Kripa and Kritavarma kill the remaining Pandava army in their sleep (sauptika). Only 7 warriors remain on the Pandava side and 3 on the Kaurava side.
11	Stri-parva (The Book of the Women)	81-85	Gandhari, Kunti and the women (stri) of the Kurus and Pandavas lament the dead.
12	Shanti-parva (The Book of Peace)	86-88	The crowning of Yudhisthira as king of Hastinapura, and instructions from Bhishma for the newly anointed king on society, economics and politics. This is the longest book of the Mahabharata (shanti means peace).
13	Anushasana-parva (The Book of the Instructions)	89-90	The final instructions (anushasana) from Bhishma.
14	Ashvamedhika-parva (The Book of the Horse Sacrifice)^[11]	91-92	The royal ceremony of the Ashvamedha (Horse sacrifice) conducted by Yudhisthira. The world conquest by Arjuna. The Anugita is told by Krishna to Arjuna.
15	Ashramavasika-parva (The Book of the Hermitage)	93-95	The eventual deaths of Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti in a forest fire when they are living in a hermitage in the Himalayas. Vidura predeceases them and Sanjaya on Dhritarashtra's bidding goes to live in the higher Himalayas.
16	Mausala-parva (The Book of the Clubs)	96	The infighting between the Yadavas with maces (mausala) and the eventual destruction of the Yadavas.
17	Mahaprasthanika-parva (The Book of the Great Journey)	97	The great journey of Yudhisthira and his brothers across the whole country and finally their ascent of the great Himalayas where each Pandava falls except for Yudhisthira.
18	Svargarohana-parva (The Book of the Ascent to Heaven)	98	Yudhisthira's final test and the return of the Pandavas to the spiritual world (svarga).
khila	Harivamsa-parva (The Book of the Genealogy of Hari)	99-100	Life of Krishna which is not covered in the 18 parvas of the Mahabharata.

The Adi-parva includes the snake sacrifice (sarpasattra) of Janamejaya, explaining its motivation, detailing why all snakes in existence were intended to be destroyed, and why in spite of this, there are still snakes in existence. This sarpasattra material was often considered an independent tale added to a version of the Mahabharata by "thematic attraction" (Minkowski 1991), and considered to have particularly close connection to Vedic (Brahmana) literature, in particular the Panchavimsha Brahmana which describes the Sarpasattra as originally performed by snakes, among which are snakes named Dhrtarashtra and Janamejaya, two main characters of the Mahabharata's sarpasattra, and Takshaka, the name of a snake also in the Mahabharata. The Shatapatha Brahmana gives an account of an Ashvamedha performed by Janamejaya Parikshita.

According to what one character says at Mbh. 1.1.50, there were three versions of the epic, beginning with Manu (1.1.27), Astika (1.3, sub-parva 5) or Vasu (1.57), respectively. These versions would correspond to the addition of one and then another 'frame' settings of dialogues. The Vasu version would omit the frame settings and begin with the account of the birth of Vyasa. The Astika version would add the Sarpasattra and Ashvamedha material from Brahmanical literature, introduce the name Mahabharata, and identify Vyasa as the work's author. The redactors of these additions were probably Pancharatrin scholars who according to Oberlies (1998) likely retained control over the text until its final redaction. Mention of the Huna in the Bhishma-parva however appears to imply that this parva may have been edited around the 4th century.

Historical context

Further information: Epic India

Map of "Bharatvarsha" (Kingdom of India) during the time of Mahabharata and Ramayana. (Title and location names are in English.)

The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is unclear. Inasmuch as it does have a historical precedent, it would best fit into the context of Iron Age India of the 9th century BC or so.^[12]

Regardless of the historicity of the Kurukshetra War in particular, the general setting of the epic certainly does have a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800 BC.^[13] A dynastic conflict of the period could have been the inspiration for the Jaya, the core on which the Mahabharata corpus was built, with a climactic battle eventually coming to be viewed as an epochal event.

Pauranic literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahabharata narrative. The evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshita (Arjuna's grandson) and the accession of Mahapadma Nanda, commonly dated to 382 B.C., which would yield an estimate of about 1400 B.C. for the Bharata battle.^[14] However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings listed in the genealogies.^[15] Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshita's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda. Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic lists and, assuming 18 years for the average duration of a reign, arrived at an estimate of 850 B.C. for Adhisimakrishna, and thus approximately 950 B.C. for the Bharata battle.^[16]

B. B. Lal used the same approach with a more conservative assumption of the average reign to estimate a date of 836 B.C., and correlated this with archaeological evidence from Painted Grey Ware sites, the association being strong between PGW artifacts and places mentioned in the epic.^[17]

Attempts to date the events using methods of archaeoastronomy have produced, depending on which passages are chosen and how they are interpreted, estimates ranging from the late 4th to the mid 2nd millennium B.C.^[18] The late 4th millennium date has a precedent in the calculation of the Kaliyuga epoch, based on planetary conjunctions, by Aryabhata (6th century). His date of February 18th 3102 B.C. has become widespread in Indian tradition (for example, the Aihole inscription of Pulikeshi II, dated to Saka 556 = 634 A.D., claims that 3735 years have elapsed since the Bharata battle.^[19]) Another traditional school of astronomers and historians, represented by Vriddha-Garga, Varahamihira (author of the Brhatsamhita) and Kalhana (author of the Rajatarangini), place the Bharata war 653 years after the Kaliyuga epoch, corresponding to 2449 B.C.^[20]

Synopsis

The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kaurava and the Pandava. Although the Kaurava is the senior branch of the family, Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, is younger than Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava. Both Duryodhana and Yudhisthira claim to the first in line to inherit the throne.

The struggle culminates in the great battle of Kurukshetra, in which the Pandavas are ultimately victorious. The battle produces complex conflicts of kinship and friendship, instances of family loyalty and duty taking precedence over what is right, as well as the converse.

The Mahabharata itself ends with the death of Krishna, and the subsequent end of his dynasty, and ascent of the Pandava brothers to heaven. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age of Kali (Kali Yuga), the fourth and final age of mankind, where the great values and noble ideas have crumbled, and man is heading toward the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue.

The Older generations

Janamejaya's ancestor Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura has a short-lived marriage with the goddess Ganga and has a son, Devavrata (later to be called Bhishma), who becomes the heir apparent.

Many years later, when the king goes hunting, he sees Satyavati, the daughter of a fisherman and asks her father for her hand. Her father refuses to consent to the marriage unless Shantanu promises to make any future son of Satyavati the king upon his death. To solve the king's dilemma, Devavrata agrees not to take the throne. As the fisherman is not sure about the prince's children honouring the promise, Devavrata also takes a vow of lifelong celibacy to guarantee his father's promise. Shantanu has two sons by Satyavati, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Upon Shantanu's death, Chitrangada becomes king. He lived a very short uneventful life and dies. Vichitravirya, the younger son, rules Hastinapura. In order to arrange the marriage of the young Vichitravirya, Bhishma goes to Kāśī for a swayamvara of the three princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. He abducts them on account of his strength, rather than their will. Ambika and Ambalika consent to be married to Vichtravirya. Amba informs Bhishma she wished to marry Shalvaraj (king of Shalva) whom Bhishma defeated at their swayamvar. Bhishma lets her leave but Shalvaraj refuses to marry her, smarthing at his humiliation under Bhishma. Amba then returns to marry Vichtravirya but he refuses. Finally, she asks Bhishma to marry her but he proclaims he cannot marry her because of his vow of celibacy. Amba then becomes enraged and becomes Bhishma's bitter enemy, holding him responsible for her plight.

The Pandava and Kaurava princes

When Vichitravirya dies young without any heirs, Satyavati asks her first son Vyasa to father children on the widows. The first queen Ambika shuts her eyes during sexual intercourse and her son Dhritarashtra is born blind. Ambalika turns pale and bloodless, and her son Pandu is born pale (the term Pandu may also mean 'jaundiced' [1]). Vyasa fathers a third son Vidura, by a serving maid who does not fear him and he turns to be intelligent.

Dhritarashtra marries Gandhari, a princess from Gandhara, who blindfolds herself when she finds she has been married to a blind man. Pandu takes the throne because of Dhritarashtra's blindness. Pandu marries twice, to Kunti and Madri. Pandu is however cursed by sage Kindama that if he engages in a sexual act, he will die. He then retires to the forest along with his two wives, and his brother rules thereafter, despite his blindness.

Pandu's older queen Kunti however, asks the gods Dharma, Vayu, and Indra for sons, by using a boon granted by Durvasa. She gives birth to three sons Yudhishtira, Bhima, and Arjuna through these gods. Kunti shares her boon with the younger queen Madri, who bears the twins Nakula and Sahadeva through the Ashwini twins. However Pandu and Madri, indulge in sex and Pandu dies. Madri dies on his funeral pyre out of remorse. Kunti raises the five brothers, who are from then usually referred to as the Pandava brothers.

Dhritarashtra has a hundred sons through Gandhari, all born after the birth of Yudhishtira. These are the Kaurava brothers, the eldest being Duryodhana, and the second Dushasana. The rivalry and enmity between them and the Pandava brothers, from their youth and into manhood leads to the Kurushetra war.

Lākṣagṛha (The House of Lac)

Duryodhana plots to get rid of the Pandavas. He has a palace built of flammable materials (mostly Lac), and arranges for them to stay there, with the intention of setting it alight. However, the Pandavas are warned by their uncle, Vidura, who sends them a miner to dig a tunnel. They are able to escape to safety and go into hiding, but after leaving others behind, whose bodies are mistaken for them. The Pandavas and Kunti go into hiding.

Marriage to Draupadi

During the course of their hiding the Pandavas learn of a swayamvara which is taking place for the hand of the Pāñcāla princess Draupadī. The Pandavas enter the competition in disguise as Brahmins. The task is to string a mighty steel bow and shoot a target on the ceiling, which is the eye of a moving artificial fish, while looking at its reflection in oil below. Most of the princes fail, many being unable to lift the bow. Arjuna succeeds however. The Pandavas return home and inform their mother that Arjuna has won a competition and to look at what they have brought back. Without looking, Kunti asks them to share whatever it is Arjuna has won among themselves. Thus Draupadi ends up being the wife of all five brothers.

Indraprastha

After the wedding, the Pandava brothers are invited back to Hastinapura. The Kuru family elders and relatives negotiate and broker a split of the kingdom, with the Pandavas obtaining a new territory. Yudhishtira has a new capital built for this territory at Indraprastha. Neither the Pandava nor Kaurava sides are happy with the arrangement however.

Shortly after this, Arjuna kidnaps and then marries Krishna's sister, Subhadra. Yudhishtira wishes to establish his position as king; he seeks Krishna's advice. Krishna advises him, and after due preparation and the elimination of some opposition, Yudhishthira carries out the rājasūya yagna ceremony; he is thus recognised as pre-eminent among kings.

The Pandavas have a new palace built for them, by Maya the Danava. They invite their Kaurava cousins to Indraprastha. Duryodhana walks round the palace, and mistakes a glossy floor for water, and will not step in. After being told of his error, he then sees a pond, and assumes it is not water and falls in. Draupadi laughs at him, and he is humiliated.

The dice game

Shakuni, Duryodhana's uncle, now arranges a dice game, playing against Yudhishtira with loaded dice. Yudhishtira loses all his wealth, then his kingdom. He then even gambles his brothers, himself, and finally his wife into servitude. The jubilant Kauravas insult the Pandavas in their helpless state and even try to disrobe Draupadi in front of the entire court, but her honour is saved by Krishna who miraculously creates lengths of cloth to replace the ones being removed.

Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, and the other elders are aghast at the situation, but Duryodhana is adamant that there is no place for two crown princes in Hastinapura. Against his wishes Dhritarashtra orders for another dice game. The Pandavas are required to go into exile for 12 years, and in the 13th year must remain hidden. If discovered by the Kauravas, they will be forced into exile for another 12 years.

Exile and return

The Pandavas spend thirteen years in exile; many adventures occur during this time. They also prepare alliances for a possible future conflict. They spend their final year in disguise in the court of Virata, and are discovered at or after the end of the year.

At the end of their exile, they try to negotiate a return to Indraprastha. However, this fails, as Duryodhana objects that they were discovered while in hiding, and that no return of their kingdom was agreed. War becomes inevitable.

The battle at Kurukshetra

Main article: Kurukshetra war

Bhishma on his death-bed of arrows with the Pandavas and Krishna - Folio from the Razmnama(1761 - 1763), Persian translation of the Mahabharata, commissioned by Mughal emperor Akbar. The Pandavas are dressed in Islamic armour and robes.^[21]

The two sides summon vast armies to their help, and line up at Kurukshetra for a war. The Kingdoms of Panchala, Dwaraka, Kasi, Kekaya, Magadha, Matsya, Chedi, Pandya and the Yadus of Mathura and some other clans like the Parama Kambojas were allied with the Pandavas. The allies of the Kauravas included the kings of Pragjyotisha, Anga, Kekaya, Sindhudesa (including Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis), Mahishmati, Avanti in Madhyadesa, Madra, Gandhara, Bahlikas, Kambojas and many others. Prior to war being declared, Balarama, had expressed his unhappiness at the developing conflict, and left to go on pilgrimage, thus he does not take part in the battle itself. Krishna takes part in a non-combatant role, as charioteer for Arjuna.

Before the battle, Arjuna, seeing himself facing grand-fatherBhishma and his teacher Drona on the other side, has doubts about the battle and he fails to lift his Gandiva bow. Krishna wakes him up to his call of duty in the famous Bhagavad Gita section of the epic.

Though initially sticking to chivalrous notions of warfare, both sides soon adopt dishonourable tactics. At the end of the 18-day battle, only the Pandavas, Satyaki, Kripa, Ashwathama, Kritavarma, Yuyutsu and Krishna survive.

The end of the Pandavas

After "seeing" the carnage, Gandhari who had lost all her sons, curses Krishna to be a witness to a similar annihilation of his family, for though divine and capable of stopping the war, he had not done so. Krishna accepts the curse, which bears fruit 36 years later.

The Pandavas who had ruled their kingdom meanwhile, decide to renounce everything. Clad in skins and rags they retire to the Himalaya and climb towards heaven in their bodily form. A stray dog travels with them. One by one the brothers and Draupadi fall on their way. As each one stumbles, Yudhishitra gives the rest the reason for their fall (Draupadi was partial to Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were vain and proud of their looks, Bhima and Arjuna were proud of their strength and archery skills, respectively). Only the virtuous Yudhisthira who had tried everything to prevent the carnage and the dog remain. The dog reveals himself to be the god Yama (also known as Yama Dharmaraja), and then takes him to the underworld where he sees his siblings and wife. After explaining the nature of the test, Dharma takes Yudhishtira back to heaven and explains that it was necessary to expose him to the underworld for the one lie he had said during his entire life. Dharma then assures him that his siblings and wife would join him in heaven after they had been exposed to the underworld for measures of time according to their vices.

Arjuna's grandson Parikshita rules after them and dies bitten by a snake. His furious son, Janamejaya, decides to perform a snake sacrifice (sarpasttra) in order to destroy the snakes. It is at this sacrifice that the tale of his ancestors is narrated to him.

Versions, translations, and derivative works

Many regional versions of the work developed over time, mostly differing only in minor details, or with verses or subsidiary stories being added. These include some versions from outside the Indian subcontinent, such as the Kakawin Bharatayuddha from Java.

Critical Edition

Between 1919 and 1966, scholars at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, compared the various manuscripts of the epic from India and abroad and produced the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, on 13,000 pages in 19 volumes, followed by the Harivamsha in another two volumes and six index volumes. This is the text that is usually used in current Mahabharata studies for reference.^[22] This work is sometimes called the 'Pune' or 'Poona' edition of the Mahabharata.

Modern interpretations

Krishna as depicted in Yakshagana from Karnataka which is based largely on stories of Mahabharata

The eminent Hindi poet, also hailed as Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' has written epic-poetry on various themes of Mahabharata like Kurukshetra, Rashmirathi and many others which are known for their elegance and musical rhythm.

The Kannada novelist S.L. Bhyrappa wrote a novel in Kannada (now translated to most Indian languages and English) titled Parva, giving a new interpretation to the story of Mahabharata. He tried to understand the social and ethical practices in these regions and correlate them with the story of Mahabharata.

In the late 1980s, the Mahabharata TV series^[23] was televised and shown on India's national television (Doordarshan). The series was written by Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza and directed by B. R. Chopra and his son Ravi Chopra. The concept was by Pt. Narendra Sharma.

Many film versions of the epic exist, dating from 1920..^[24]

In the West, a well known presentation of the epic is Peter Brook's nine hour play premiered in Avignon in 1985 and its five hour movie version The Mahabharata (1989).^[25]

Among literary reinterpretations of the Mahabharata the most famous is arguably Sashi Tharoor's major work entitled "The Great Indian Novel", an involved literary, philosophical, and political novel which superimposes the major moments of post-Independence India in the 20th century onto the driving events of the Mahabharata epic. An acclaimed book, "The Great Indian Novel" also contemporized well-known characters of the epic into equally well-known politicians of the modern era (e.g. Indira Gandhi as the villainous Duryodhana).

Mahabharata was also reinterpreted by Shyam Benegal in Kalyug. Kalyug is a modern-day replaying of the Mahabharata, with the Pandava industrial family being locked in a titanic battle with their Kaurava rivals. But the times are different from the original Mahabharat's, and external forces impinge on feudal values causing disconcerting results.^[26]

Western interpretations of the Mahabharata include William Buck's Mahabharata and Elizabeth Seeger's Five Sons of King Pandu.

English translations

Lal version

A poetic translation of the full epic into English, done by the poet P. Lal is complete, and in 2005 began being published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta. The P. Lal translation is a non-rhyming verse-by-verse rendering, and is the only edition in any language to include all slokas in all recensions of the work (not just those in the Critical Edition). The completion of the publishing project is scheduled for 2008. Fifteen of the eighteen volumes are now available:

Vol 1: Adi Parva, 1232 pages, 2005, ISBN 81-8157-370-6

Vol 2: Sabha Parva, 520 pages, 2005, ISBN 81-8157-382-X

Vol 3: Vana Parva, 1580 pages, 2005, ISBN 81-8157-448-6

Vol 4: Virata Parva, 400 pages, 2006, ISBN 81-8157-382-X

Vol 5: Udyoga Parva, 970 pages, 2006, ISBN 81-8157-530-X

Vol 6: Bhishma Parva, 920 pages, 2006, ISBN 81-8157-548-2

Vol 7: Drona Parva, 1522 pages, 2007, ISBN 81-8157-640-3

Vol 8: Karna Parva, 1025 pages, 2008, ISBN 978-81-8157-711-5

Vol 10: Sauptika Parva, 173 pages, 2008, ISBN 978-81-8157-723-8

Vol 11: Stri Parva, 173 pages, 2008, ISBN 978-81-8157-729-0

Vol 14: Asvamedhika Parva, 424 pages, 2008, ISBN 978-81-8157-731-3

Vol 15: Asramavasuka Parva, 157 pages, 2007, ISBN 81-8157-606-3

Vol 16: Mausala Parva, 60 pages, 2006, ISBN 81-8157-550-4

Vol 17: Mahaprasthana Parva, 30 pages, 2006 ISBN 81-8157-552-0

Vol 18: Svargarohana Parva, 80 pages, 2006 ISBN 81-8157-554-7

[edit] Clay Sanskrit Library version

A project to translate the full epic into English prose, translated by various hands, began to appear in 2005 from the Clay Sanskrit Library, published by New York University Press. The translation is based not on the Critical Edition but on the version known to the commentator Nīlakaṇṭha. Currently available are portions of books 2-4 and 7-9.

Maha-·bhárata II: The Great Hall: 588 pp, Paul Wilmot, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8147-9406-7

Maha-·bhárata III: The Forest (volume four of four): 374 pp, William J. Johnson, 2005, ISBN 978-0-8147-4278-5

Maha-·bhárata IV: Viráta: 516 pp, Kathleen Garbutt, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8147-3183-3

Maha-·bhárata V: Preparations for War (volume one of two): 450 pp, Kathleen Garbutt, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8147-3191-8

Maha-·bhárata V: Preparations for War (volume two of two): forthcoming

Maha-·bhárata VI: Bhishma (volume one of two): forthcoming

Maha-·bhárata VII: Drona (volume one of four): 473 pp, Vaughan Pilikian, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8147-6723-8

Maha-·bhárata VIII: Karna (volume one of two): 604 pp, Adam Bowles, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8147-9981-9

Maha-·bhárata VIII: Karna (volume two of two): 450 pp, Adam Bowles, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8147-9995-6

Maha-·bhárata IX: Shalya (volume one of two): 371 pp, Justin Meiland, 2005, ISBN 978-0-8147-5706-2

Maha-·bhárata IX: Shalya (volume two of two): 470 pp, Justin Meiland, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8147-5737-6

[edit] Chicago version

Another English prose translation of the full epic, based on the Critical Edition, is also in progress, published by University Of Chicago Press, initiated by Chicago Indologist J. A. B. van Buitenen (books 1-5) and, following a 20-year hiatus caused by the death of van Buitenen, is being continued by D. Gitomer of DePaul University (book 6), J. L. Fitzgerald of The University of Tennessee (books 11-13) and W. Doniger of the University of Chicago (books 14-18):

Vol. 1: Parva 1, 545 pages, 1980, ISBN 0-226-84663-6

Vol. 2: Parvas 2-3, 871 pages, 1981, ISBN 0-226-84664-4

Vol. 3: Parvas 4-5, 582 pages, 1983, ISBN 0-226-84665-2

Vol. 4: Parva 6 (forthcoming)

Vol. 7: Parva 11, first half of parva 12, 848 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-226-25250-7

Vol. 8: Second half of Parva 12 (forthcoming)

[edit] Ganguli version

Until these three projects are available in full, the only available complete English translations remain the Victorian prose versions by Kisari Mohan Ganguli,^[27] published between 1883 and 1896 (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers) and by M. N. Dutt (Motilal Banarsidass Publishers). Most critics consider the translation by Ganguli to be faithful to the original text. The complete text of Ganguli's translation is available online (see External Links).

[edit] Indonesian version

This is a Kawi version that is found on the Indonesian island of Bali and was translated by Dr. I. Gusti Putu Phalgunadi. Of the eighteen parvas, only eight Kawi manuscripts remain.

Vol 1: Adi Parva - The First Book, 305 pages, 1990, ISBN 81-85179-50-6

Vol 2: Virataparva - The Fourth Book, 197 pages, 1992, ISBN 81-85689-05-9

Vol 3: Udyogaparva, 345 pages, 1994, ISBN 81-85689-96-2

Vol 4: Bhishmaparva, 283 pages, 1995, ISBN 81-86471-05-7

Vol 5: Asramavasaparva, Mosalaparva, Prasthanikaparva, Svargarohanaparva, 161 pages, 1997, ISBN 81-86471-11-1

[edit] Musical adaptation

Nal'i Damajanti, Op.47 (1903), Opera in three acts by Anton Arenskij to a libretto by Modest Čajkovskij after the Russian translation of the Mahabharata by Vasilij Žukovskijs. First performance 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1904 in Moscow.