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INTRODUCTION.

THE Bhagavad Gītā is a poem, written in the usual verseform of the Hindū epic poems, and is an episode in the sixth book, or Bhishma Parvan, of the Mahābhārata, an epic poem devoted mainly to the deeds of the rival princes, who, though descended from a common ancestor, Kuru, fought as Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas for the kingdom of which Hastinapura was the capital. The facts which preceded the opening scene of the poem are briefly these:Dhritarashtra and Paṇḍu, the sons of Vyasa, were brought up, after the death of their father, by their uncle Bhishma, who carried on, in their minority, the government of Hastinapura. Dhritarashtra was the first-born, but being blind, he renounced the kingdom in favour of Pāṇḍu. The former married Gāndhārī, daughter of Subala, king of Gāndhāra, and had one hundred sons, of whom Duryodhana was the eldest. Pāṇḍu married Kuntī, also called Pritha, the daughter of a Yadava prince, Sūra, who gave her in charge to his childless cousin, Kuntibhoja. She bore three sons, Yudishṭhira, Bhima, and Arjuna; the eldest (Yudishṭhira), being born before Duryodhana, was installed by Dhritarashtra as Yuvaraja, or heir-apparent,1

1 Other traditions represent that a compromise was subsequently made, by which the kingdom of Hastinā pura was given to the sons of Dhri

tarashtra, and to Yudhishṭhira was given a territory of which Indraprastha, on the river Yamunā, was the capital.

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and soon distinguished himself by his warlike exploits, in which his brothers assisted him. The renown which the Pāṇḍu princes acquired excited in Dhritarashtra and his son Duryodhana a jealous desire to supplant them. The latter formed a plan to destroy them by setting fire to their house, and to obtain the throne for himself. This plan failed, and then he plotted with a skilful dice-player, called Śakuni, to take advantage of Yudishṭhira's love of gambling, and by leading him to stake his kingdom, to win it from him.

Dhritarashtra was induced to call an assembly (sabhā) at Hastinapura, which the Pāṇḍavas were invited to attend. They came, and Duryodhana persuaded Yudishṭhira to play with Śakuni. He consented, and in the excitement of the game he staked successively his kingdom, his private possessions, and then his wife, Draupadi. He lost them all, and Draupadi was seized, and treated with great indignity as a slave. A compromise was, however, made: Duryodhana was to have the kingdom for twelve years, and during this time the five Pāṇḍavas (including two sons, Nakula and Sahadeva, whose mother was Madri) were to live in exile. When the time of exile had expired, they determined to regain their kingdom by force; for Duryodhana, who is represented as being crafty and unprincipled, refused to restore it. Each party made preparations for the contest, and sought to gain allies among the neighbouring kings. A large army was collected by each, the army of Duryodhana being commanded by his great-uncle Bhishma, and that of the Pandavas by Bhima, the second son of Pāṇḍu and Kunti. The two armies met on the sacred plain, the plain of the Kurus, and were drawn up in array against each other.

It is at this point that our poem begins. Arjuna occupies his war-chariot as one of the leaders of the Pāṇḍavan host, and Krishna, disguised in human form, is his sūta, or charioteer. Then, looking upon the two hosts, in each of which he had many relatives, the fortitude of Arjuna gave way. He directed his charioteer to drive between the two armies, that he might regard them more closely. Krishna obeyed the command, and Arjuna, overcome by pity and sorrow at the idea of killing his kinsmen, let fall his bow and arrow, and refused to fight.

Here the first book closes, and Krishna, who makes himself known at length as the Supreme Spirit (Paramālman), meets the objections of Arjuna by unfolding a philosophical system, which is a skilful union of the systems of Kapila and Patanjali, with a large admixture of the prevailing Brahmanic doctrines.

Its base is the theistic form of the Sankhya, as set forth by Patanjali, and this treats mainly of the One Supreme Being, eternal, infinite, the source and maintainer of all things, in whom all things are from time to time absorbed at the end of a kalpa, or period of creation; and of man, compounded of soul and body, whose highest state is a profound abstraction from all external things and union by meditation (yoga) with the Supreme. This is completed for ever by nirvāṇa, or absorption into the very nature of Brahma, as a drop of water is absorbed or lost in the sea. In the Bhagavad Gita the Supreme Being is represented under five different forms or manifestations of being:-(1.) As Adhyātman, or Supreme Spirit: this spiritual essence is his proper nature (swabhāva). In his relation to gods and men he is (2.) the Supreme Deity (Adhidaiva), as being both their origin and their ruler.

Of the existing kosmos, including men and mere forms of matter, he is (3.) the Indivisible (Akshara), the living energy which animates all living things, in which form he is sometimes called Jivabhūta, the Principle of Life; and (4.) the Divisible (Kshara), the limited and various forms or individualities of men and things. Lastly, as the object and cause of religion, he is called (5.) the Lord of Sacrifice (Adhiyajna), and in this respect he is incarnated as Krishna, since it is difficult for flesh-encumbered mortals to rise to the conception and worship of a purely spiritual being (viii. 3, 4). As the Supreme Deity, Adhidaiva, he is also called Purusha, which means both soul and a male being, for in this form he is the creator of gods and

men.

This is a wide departure from the system of Kapila, who limited his speculations to the visible world, and what might be inferred by human reason, or known by the facts of consciousness. Like Fichte, he held apparently that man can know nothing above himself by any mental effort of his own, and can therefore have no direct know

ledge of God. Sacrifice and religious worship found, therefore, no place in his system, or if it was accepted for some reason apart from his system, it was subordinate in itself and its results to philosophical knowledge. The author of the Gītā takes a wholly different position on the question of a Supreme Being, and approaches more nearly the Vedantist system; but yet he differs very widely from the commonly received doctrines and ritual. In his view the Supreme Being is One, without a rival, without such attributes as were assigned to the gods in the popular belief, and unstained by any of their passions or vices. From whatever source his ideas were derived, whether

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