Being a Discourse Between Arjuna,
Prince of India, and the Supreme Being
Under the Form of Krishna
Translated from the Sanskrit Text
by
Sir Edwin Arnold,
M.A., K.C.I.E., C.S.I.
New York
Truslove, Hanson & Comba, Ltd.
67 Fifth Avenue
1900
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
This famous and marvellous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of theMahabharata, in the sixth--or "Bhishma"--Parva of the great Hindooepic. It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India, where it isreckoned as one of the ``Five Jewels,"--pancharatnani--of Devanagiriliterature. In plain but noble language it unfolds a philosophical systemwhich remains to this day the prevailing Brahmanic belief, blending as itdoes the doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali, and the Vedas. So lofty are manyof its declarations, so sublime its aspirations, so pure and tender itspiety, that Schlegel, after his study of the poem, breaks forth into thisoutburst of delight and praise towards its unknown author:"Magistrorum reverentia a Brachmanis inter sanctissima pietatis officiarefertur. 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 thissplendid tribute; and indeed, so striking are some of the moralities hereinculcated, and so close the parallelism--ofttimes actually verbal--between its teachings and those of the New Testament, that acontroversy has arisen between Pandits and Missionaries on the pointwhether the author borrowed from Christian sources, or the Evangelistsand Apostles from him.
This raises the question of its date, which cannot be positively settled. Itmust have been inlaid into the ancient epic at a period later than that ofthe original Mahabharata, but Mr Kasinath Telang has offered some fairarguments to prove it anterior to the Christian era. The weight ofevidence, however, tends to place its composition at about the thirdcentury after Christ; and perhaps there are really echoes in thisBrahmanic poem of the lessons of Galilee, and of the Syrian incarnation.
Its scene is the level country between the Jumna and the Sarsootirivers-now Kurnul and Jheend. Its simple plot consists of a dialogue heldby Prince Arjuna, the brother of King Yudhisthira, with Krishna, theSupreme Deity, wearing the disguise of a charioteer. A great battle isimpending between the armies of the Kauravas and Pandavas, and thisconversation is maintained in a war-chariot drawn up between theopposing hosts.
The poem has been turned into French by Burnouf, into Latin by Lassen,into Italian by Stanislav Gatti, into Greek by Galanos, and into Englishby Mr. Thomson and Mr Davies, the prose transcript of the last-namedbeing truly beyond praise for its fidelity and clearness. Mr Telang hasalso published at Bombay a vers