Bhagavadgita

Sir Edwin Arnold

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486277820
• eBook ISBN: 9780486112671
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy
• Index: Literature

The Bhagavadgita is part of the great Indian epic the Mahabharata, and it is one of the major religious documents of the world, occupying in Hinduism a position not unlike the Sermon on the Mount in Christianity. One of the most celebrated treasures of world literature as well, it is in the form of a poetic dialogue between the epic's hero, Arjuna, and his friend Krishna, believed to be an incarnation of God.
The dialogue, which takes place on the eve of an historic battle, probes the nature of God and what man should do to reach him. As the Bhagavadgita unfolds, this majestic poem provides a fascinating synopsis of the religious thought and experience of India through the ages. This edition offers the classic English verse translation by Sir Edwin Arnold (1832–1904), long admired for its evocation of the true feeling of the original poetry.

CHAPTER 1

The Distress of Arjuna

DHRITARASHTRA. Ranged thus for battle on the sacred plain—

On Kurukshetra—say Sanjaya! say
What wrought my people, and the Pandavas?

SANJAYA. When he beheld the host of Pandavas,
Raja Duryôdhana to Drona drew,
And spake these words: “Ah, Guru! see this line,
How vast it is of Pandu fighting-men,
Embattled by the son of Drupada,
Thy scholar in the war! Therein stand ranked
Chiefs like Arjuna, like to Bhima chiefs,
Benders of bows; Virâta, Yuyudhân,
Drupada, eminent upon his car,
Dhrishtaket, Chekitân, Ka

i’s stout lord,
Purujit, Kuntibhôj, and

aivya,
With Yudhâmanyu, and Uttamauj
Subhadra’s child; and Draupadi’s;—all famed!
All mounted on their shining chariots!
On our side, too,—thou best of Brahmans! see
Excellent chiefs, commanders of my line,
Whose names I joy to count: thyself the first,
Then Bhishma, Karna, Kripa fierce in fight,
Vikarna, A

watthâman; next to these
Strong Saumadatti, with full many more
Valiant and tried, ready this day to die
For me their king, each with his weapon grasped,
Each skilful in the field. Weakest—meseems—
Our battle shows where Bhishma holds command,
And Bhima, fronting him, something too strong!
Have care our captains nigh to Bhishma’s ranks
Prepare what help they may! Now, blow my shell!”

Then, at the signal of the aged king,
With blare to wake the blood, rolling around
Like to a lion’s roar, the trumpeter
Blew the great Conch; and, at the noise of it,
Trumpets and drums, cymbals and gongs and horns
Burst into sudden clamour; as the blasts
Of loosened tempest, such the tumult seemed!
Then might be seen, upon their car of gold
Yoked with white steeds, blowing their battle-shells,
Krishna the God, Arjuna at his side:
Krishna, with knotted locks, blew his great conch
Carved of the “Giant’s bone;” Arjuna blew
Indra’s loud gift; Bhima the terrible—
Wolf-bellied Bhima—blew a long reed-conch;
And Yudhisthira, Kunti’s blameless son,
Winded a mighty shell, “Victory’s Voice;”
And Nakula blew shrill upon his conch
Named the “Sweet-sounding,” Sahadev on his
Called “Gem-bedecked,” and Ka

i’s Prince on his.
Sikhandi on his car, Dhrishtadyumn,
Virâta, Sâtyaki the Unsubdued,
Drupada, with his sons, (O Lord of Earth!)
Long-armed Subhadra’s children, all blew loud,
So that the clangour shook their foemen’s hearts,
With quaking earth and thundering heav’n.

Then ’twas—
Beholding Dhritarashtra’s battle set,
Weapons unsheathing, bows drawn forth, the war
Instant to break—Arjun, whose ensign-badge
Was Hanuman the monkey, spake this thing
To Krishna the Divine, his charioteer:
“Drive, Dauntless One! to yonder open ground
Betwixt the armies; I would see more nigh
These who will fight with us, those we must slay
To-day, in war’s arbitrament; for, sure,
On bloodshed all are bent who throng this plain,
Obeying Dhritarashtra’s sinful son.”

Thus, by Arjuna prayed, (O Bharata!)¹
Between the hosts that heavenly Charioteer
Drove the bright car, reining its milk-white steeds
Where Bhishma led, and Drona, and their Lords,
“See!” spake he to Arjuna, “where they stand,
Thy kindred of the Kurus:” and the Prince
Marked on each hand the kinsmen of his house,
Grandsires and sires, uncles and brothers and sons,
Cousins and sons-in-law and nephews, mixed
With friends and honoured elders; some this side,
Some that side ranged; and seeing those opposed,
Such kith grown enemies—Arjunas heart
Melted with pity, while he uttered this:

ARJUNA. Krishna! as I behold, come here to shed
Their common blood, yon concourse of our kin,
My members fail, my tongue dries in my mouth,
A shudder thrills my body, and my hair
Bristles with horror; from my weak hand slips
Gandîv, the goodly bow; a fever burns
My skin to parching; hardly may I stand;
The life within me seems to swim and faint;
Nothing do I foresee save woe and wail!
It is not good, O Keshav! nought of good
Can spring from mutual slaughter! Lo, I hate
Triumph and domination, wealth and ease,
Thus sadly won! Aho! what victory
Can bring delight, Govinda! what rich spoils
Could profit; what rule recompense; what span
Of life itself seem sweet, bought with such blood?
Seeing that these stand here, ready to die,
For whose sake life was fair, and pleasure pleased,
And power grew precious:—grandsires, sires, and sons,
Brothers, and fathers-in-law, and sons-in-law,
Elders and friends! Shall I deal death on these
Even though they seek to slay us? Not one blow,
O Madhusudan! will I strike to gain
The rule of all Three Worlds; then, how much less
To seize an earthly kingdom! Killing these
Must breed but anguish, Krishna! If they be
Guilty, we shall grow guilty by their deaths;
Their sins will light on us, if we shall slay
Those sons of Dhritarashtra, and our kin;
What peace could come of that, O Madhava?
For if indeed, blinded by lust and wrath,
These cannot see, or will not see, the sin
Of kingly lines o’erthrown and kinsmen slain,
How should not we, who see, shun such a crime—
We who perceive the guilt and feel the shame—
O thou Delight of Men, Janârdana?
By overthrow of houses perisheth
Their sweet continuous household piety,
And—rites neglected, piety extinct—
Enters impiety upon that home;
Its women grow unwomaned, whence there spring
Mad passions, and the mingling-up of castes,
Sending a Hell-ward road that family,
And whoso wrought its doom by wicked wrath.
Nay, and the souls of honoured ancestors
Fall from their place of peace, being bereft
Of funeral-cakes and the wan death-water.²
So teach our holy hymns. Thus, if we slay
Kinsfolk and friends for love of earthly power.
Ahovat! what an evil fault it were!
Better I deem it, if my kinsmen strike,
To face them weaponless, and bare my breast
To shaft and spear, than answer blow with blow.

So speaking, in the face of those two hosts,
Arjuna sank upon his chariot-seat,
And let fall bow and arrows, sick at heart.

 

 

HERE ENDETH CHAPTER I OF THE
BHAGAVAD-GÎTÂ,
Entitled “Arjun-Vishâd,”
Or “The Book of the Distress of Arjuna.”

CHAPTER 2

The Book of Doctrines

SANJAYA. Him, filled with such compassion and such grief, With eyes tear-dimmed, despondent, in stern words The Driver, Madhusudan, thus addressed:

KRISHNA. How hath this weakness taken thee? Whence springs

The inglorious trouble, shameful to the brave,
Barring the path of virtue? Nay, Arjun!
Forbid thyself to feebleness! it mars
Thy warrior-name! cast off the coward-fit!
Wake! Be thyself! Arise, Scourge of the Foes!

ARJUNA. How can I, in the battle, shoot with shafts
On Bhishma, or on Drona—O thou Chief!—
Both worshipful, both honourable men?

Better to live on beggars bread
With those we love alive,
Than taste their blood in rich feasts spread,
And guiltily survive!
Ah! were it worse—who knows?—to be
Victor or vanquished here,
When those confront us angrily
Whose death leaves living drear?
In pity lost, by doubtings tossed,
My thoughts—distracted—turn
To Thee, the Guide I reverence most,
That I may counsel learn:
I know not what would heal the grief
Burned into soul and sense,
If I were earth’s unchallenged chief—
A god—and these gone thence!

SANJAYA. So spake Arjuna to the Lord of Hearts,
And sighing, “I will not fight!” held silence then.
To whom, with tender smile, (O Bharata!)
While the Prince wept despairing ’twixt those hosts,
Krishna made answer in divinest verse:

KRISHNA. Thou gri...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS
• Copyright Page
• Note
• Table of Contents
• CHAPTER 1 - The Distress of Arjuna
• CHAPTER 2 - The Book of Doctrines
• CHAPTER 3 - Virtue in Work
• CHAPTER 4 - The Religion of Knowledge
• CHAPTER 5 - Religion by Renouncing Fruit of Works
• CHAPTER 6 - Religion by Self-Restraint
• CHAPTER 7 - Religion by Discernment
• CHAPTER 8 - Religion by Devotion to the One Supreme God
• CHAPTER 9 - Religion by the Kingly Knowledge and the Kingly Mystery
• CHAPTER 10 - Religion by the Heavenly Perfections
• CHAPTER 11 - The Manifesting of the One and Manifold
• CHAPTER 12 - The Religion of Faith
• CHAPTER 13 - Religion by Separation of Matter and Spirit
• CHAPTER 14 - Religion by Separation from the Qualities
• CHAPTER 15 - Religion by Attaining the Supreme
• CHAPTER 16 - The Separateness of the Divine and Undivine
• CHAPTER 17 - Religion by the Threefold Kinds of Faith
• CHAPTER 18 - Religion by Deliverance and Renunciation
• DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS