Bhagavad Gita

Who wrote the Bhagavad Gita

Tradition credits the Gita to Maharishi Ved Vyasa (Krishna Dvaipayana), the sage who composed the Mahabharata. The Gita is not a separate book in origin but a part of that epic: it sits in the Bhishma Parva, as chapters 25–42 in the commonly printed editions (23–40 in the Pune critical edition). Vyasa is unusual among authors in that he is also a character in his own story — the grandfather of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Read the full page on Ved Vyasa →

Who spoke it, and who heard it first

The teaching itself is spoken by Shri Krishna to Arjun, with Krishna serving as Arjun's charioteer — Krishna drives, Arjun fights. But the Gita is framed as a report: the blind king Dhritarashtra, sitting in Hastinapur, hears it from his minister Sanjay, to whom Vyasa had granted divine sight so he could see and hear everything on the battlefield. At the very end (18.75) Sanjay says it was by Vyasa's grace that he heard this supreme secret directly from Krishna. So on the day it was spoken, Krishna was the speaker and three people heard it: Arjun, Sanjay, and — through Sanjay — Dhritarashtra.

The Gita itself also gives a much older answer to "who heard it first." In chapter 4 (4.1–3), Krishna tells Arjun that he first taught this same imperishable yoga to Vivasvan, the sun god, who passed it to Manu, who passed it to King Ikshvaku; it was handed down through royal sages until, over a long time, it was lost — and Krishna is now teaching that same ancient yoga to Arjun because he is his devotee and friend.

Where it was delivered

On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in present-day Haryana — the "dharma-kshetra" of the Gita's very first verse. Between the two armies drawn up for war, Krishna halted Arjun's chariot at Arjun's request (1.21–24), and the entire dialogue takes place there. Jyotisar, near the town of Kurukshetra, is traditionally identified as the exact spot, and an old banyan tree there is revered as a witness to the teaching.

When it was delivered

Within the story, the Gita was spoken just before the first day's fighting of the eighteen-day Kurukshetra war, as the conches had sounded and weapons were about to be raised (1.20). By tradition, the day was Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi (Mokshada Ekadashi), which is why Gita Jayanti is celebrated on that date every year, usually in November or December. Traditional reckoning places the war at the close of the Dvapara Yuga, around 3100 BCE; most modern scholars, by contrast, date the composition of the text as we have it to roughly the last few centuries BCE.

Why it was spoken — its purpose

The Gita exists because a great warrior broke down. In chapter 1, Arjun sees his grandfather, teachers and cousins in the opposing army, drops his bow and refuses to fight. Krishna's seventeen chapters of reply are an answer not only to "should I fight?" but to deeper questions behind it: What is the self, and does it die? How can one act in the world without being bound by the results? What is one's own duty (svadharma), and why does it matter? How does one know, love and surrender to God? Along the way the Gita lays out the paths of karma yoga (selfless action), jnana yoga (knowledge) and bhakti yoga (devotion), and culminates in Krishna's call to take refuge in him alone (18.66). Its purpose is fulfilled in Arjun's own words (18.73): "My delusion is destroyed; I have regained my understanding… I will do as you say."

Its structure

The Gita has 18 chapters and 700 verses, almost all in the anushtubh metre. By the usual count, Krishna speaks 574 verses, Arjun 84, Sanjay 41, and Dhritarashtra just one — the opening question. Each chapter is called a "yoga" — chapter 1, for example, is Arjuna Vishada Yoga, the yoga of Arjun's despair. All eighteen chapters — from Arjun's despair, through karma yoga, meditation, devotion and the vision of the cosmic form, to the final call to surrender — are available in full below, all 700 verses, each with Sanskrit, transliteration, English translation, Hindi meaning and commentary.