Dr. Fidel Fajardo-Acosta's

World Literature Website

 

Bhagavad Gita (1st c. BC-2nd c. AD)

Author

Time & Place

Language & Form

Synopsis

Contexts

Main Issues

Study Questions

Links

Quotations

Recommended Reading

Author

Anonymous member(s) of the ruling Brahmin class in India sometime between the first century BC and the second century AD

Time & Place

Between the first century BC and the second century AD. India.

Language & Form

Epic, heroic, religious poem. Also known as "The Song of the Lord." Later addition to and part of the sixth book of the Hindu epic, Mahabharata (5th-4th c. BC). Poetic form: 700 verses divided into 18 chapters; epic stanza employing the meters known as sloka and tristubh. Original language: Sanskrit. Recommended translation: Barbara Stoller Miller

Synopsis

About to enter into battle against his relatives, the Kauravas, the Pandava prince Arjuna expresses his concerns about violence and the killing of his own kin. Arjuna's charioteer, Krishna, is an incarnation of the god Vishnu and advises Arjuna to put all doubt aside and fulfill his duty (dharma) as a warrior (ksatriya). Krishna argues that to kill out of duty, in a state of removal from all self-interest, is virtuous and necessary.

Contexts

Story based on traditional narratives about the war between the Pandava clan and the Kauravas (led by the blind patriarch Dhritarastra of Hastinapura); battle of Kuruksetra (traditionally dated around 1302 BC)

Hinduism: traditional religion of India evolved from Vedism, a set of texts, cults, and doctrines going back to the 2nd millenium BC

Traditional Hinduism's strict, hierarchical caste system: Brahmins (ruling class of priests), ksatriyas (warriors); vaisyas (farmers, herders, merchants), sudras (servants and slaves), pariahs (outcasts, untouchables); membership in caste determined by birth; emphasis on obedience and performance of one's dharma (duty) within the caste of one's birth; belief in reincarnation and transmigration of souls from one kind of body to another (samsara)

Buddhism, religion which arose in India as a reaction against the inequalities and rigidities of Hinduism. Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), a sage who was active sometime between the 6th and the 4th c. BC.

Caste system undermined by egalitarian character of Buddhism; Buddhism emphasized the idea of karma (destiny determined by one's actions), the extinguishing of passion/desire, peaceful coexistence with all living things, and enlightenment

The Bhagavad Gita was crafted by members of the Brahmin caste in an effort to counteract the rising influence of Buddhism; new concepts: karma yoga ("discipline of action"), dutiful, disciplined action without personal desire, sacred duty; bhakti yoga ("discipline of devotion")

Leaning in the direction of Buddhism and the voice of Arjuna (pacifism, the sanctity of all life), Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) interpreted the Bhagavad Gita as supporting the doctrine of non-violent resistance

Main Issues

Arjuna's objections to war correspond to the positions of Buddhism

Krishna's responses correspond to the interests of the Brahmin classes and the ideologies of Hinduism

Krishna's teachings offer a modification of traditional Hinduism intended to preserve the caste system and its associated duties while accomodating Buddhism's call for selflessness and withdrawal from worldly concerns

Krishna's positions marked by evident contradictions which can only be explained by the underlying political and social interests that dictate them

Gandhi's reading of the Bhagavad Gita as an attempt to reconcile the beliefs of Hinduism with an ethic of peace and respect for all living things--notable differences with the ideas of Krishna

Study Questions

Who composed the Gita? For what purposes? How did the historical and cultural conditions of the time affect the shaping of the work's ideological content? What arguments does Arjuna invoke to support his concern about participating in the battle? What arguments does Krishna employ to overcome Arjuna's objections to participating in the battle? Are they persuasive? Are they consistent with the Buddhist concern with the "bad karma" of violent action? Why? Why not? In what ways does the Gita attempt to smooth out the contradictions between the teachings of Buddhism and those of Hinduism? Is it successful in this endeavor? How do you feel about Krishna's argument that the immortality of souls makes killing less problematic? Is it possible to read this text, as Gandhi did, as an argument against violence? How?

Links

to come

Quotations

"mrtyuh sarva-haras caham
udbhavas ca bhavisyatam"
(Bhagavad Gita 10:34)
"I am all-devouring Death,
the source of what is to come"

or

"I am become Death,

the Destroyer of worlds"

as paraphrased by Robert Oppenheimer, nuclear physicist, at the site of the first atomic bomb test (Trinity), July 15, 1945

Recommended Reading

to come

© 2001, 2002, 2003 by Fidel Fajardo-Acosta, all rights reserved

Last updated: 10/21/2003