Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume VIII.djvu/8



understood to embody individual opinions only, and must be taken accordingly for what they are worth.

The full name of the work is Bhagavadgîtâ. In common parlance, we often abbreviate the name into Gîtâ, and in Sanskrit literature the name occurs in both forms. In the works of Sankarâkârya, quotations from the Gîtâ are introduced, sometimes with the words 'In the Gîtâ,' or 'In the Bhagavadgîtâ,' and sometimes with words which may be rendered 'In the Gîtâs,' the plural form being used. In the colophons to the MSS. of the work, the form current, apparently throughout India, is, 'In the Upanishads sung (Gîtâs) by the Deity.' Sankarâkârya, indeed, sometimes calls it the Îsvara Gîtâ, which, I believe, is the specific title of a different work altogether. The signification, however, of the two names is identical, namely, the song sung by the Deity, or, as Wilkins translates it, the Divine Lay.

This Divine Lay forms part of the Bhîshma Parvan of the Mahâbhârata--one of the two well-known national epics of India. The Gîtâ gives its name to a subdivision of the Bhîshma Parvan, which is called the Bhagavadgîtâ Parvan, and which includes, in addition to the eighteen chapters of which the Gîtâ consists, twelve other chapters. Upon this the question has naturally arisen, Is the Gîtâ a genuine portion of the Mahâbhârata, or is it a later addition? The question is one of considerable difficulty. But I cannot help saying, that the manner in which it has been generally dealt with is not altogether satisfactory to my mind. Before going any further into that question, however, it is desirable to state some of the facts on which the decision must be based. It appears, then, that the royal family of Hastinâpura was divided into two branches; the one called the Kauravas, and the other the Pândavas. The former wished to keep the latter out of the share of the kingdom claimed by them; and so, after many attempts at