文档介绍：The Bhagavad-Gita, translated
The Bhagavad-Gita
Translated Sir Edwin Arnold
1
The Bhagavad-Gita, translated
Dedication
TO INDIA
So have I read this wonderful and spirit-thrilling speech, By Krishna
and Prince Arjun held, discoursing each with each; So have I writ its
wisdom here,--its hidden mystery, For England; O our India! as dear to me
as She!
EDWIN ARNOLD
2
The Bhagavad-Gita, translated
PREFACE
This famous and marvellous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of the
Mahabharata, in the sixth--or "Bhishma"--Parva of the great Hindoo epic.
It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India, where it is reckoned
as one of the ``Five Jewels,"--pancharatnani--of Devanagiri literature. In
plain but noble language it unfolds a philosophical system which remains
to this day the prevailing Brahmanic belief, blending as it does the
doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali, and the Vedas. So lofty are many of its
declarations, so sublime its aspirations, so pure and tender its piety, that
Schlegel, after his study of the poem, breaks forth into this outburst of
delight and praise towards its unknown author: "Magistrorum reverentia a
Brachmanis inter sanctissima pietatis officia refertur. Ergo te primum,
Vates sanctissime, Numinisque hypopheta! quisquis tandem inter mortales
dictus tu fueris, carminis bujus auctor,, cujus oraculis mens ad excelsa
quaeque,quaeque,, aeterna atque divina, cum inenarraoih quddam
delectatione rapitur-te primum, inquam, salvere jubeo, et vestigia tua
semper adore." Lassen re-echoes this splendid tribute; and indeed, so
striking are some of the moralities here inculcated, and so close the
parallelism--ofttimes actually verbal-- between its teachings and those of
the New Testament, that a controversy has arisen between Pandits and
Missionaries on the point whether the author borrowed from Christian
sources, or the Evangelists and Apostles from him.
This raises the question of its date, which cannot be positively se