Complete Translations into English of Mahabharata (Alphabetical by Translator)

Dutt, Manmatha Nath, trans. A Prose English Translation of the Mahabharata. 6 vols. Calcutta: H.C. Dass, 1895-1905. Rpt. as Mahabharata: Translated into English from Original Sanskrit Text by M.N. Dutt; Delhi: Parimal Publications, 1997; 7 vols. [428 pp.; 533 pp.; 487 pp.; 572 pp.; 192 pp.; 593 pp.; 560 pp.]

Roy, Protap Chandra, ed. and trans., and Kisari Mohan Ganguli, trans. The Mahabharata. 18 vols. Calcutta: Bharata Press, 1883-96.

Abridged, Incomplete, or Retold English Versions of Mahabharata (Alphabetical by Translator)

Buck, William, ed. The Mahabharata. [retelling rather than original translation]

Dutt, Romesh C., ed. and trans. The Ramayana & The Mahabharata: Condensed into English Verse. 1910; rpt. London: Dent - Everyman's Library, 1972. [335 pp.; verse]

Narasimhan, Chakravarthi, ed, and trans. The Mahabharata: An English Version Based on Selected Verses. New York: Columbia UP, 1965. [254 pp.; prose; omits important plot details]

Narayan, R.K. The Mahabharata. [retelling rather than original translation]

Rajagopalachari, C., ed. and trans. Mahabharata. 11^th ed. 1951; Bombay: Bhavan, 1972. [332 pp.; prose]

Seeger, Elizabeth, ed. The Five Sons of King Pandu: The Story of the Mahabharata - Adapted from the English Translation of Kisari Mohan Ganguli. New York: William R. Scott, Inc., 1967. [340 pp.; prose; omits important plot details]

Van Buitenen, J.A.B., ed. and trans. Mahabharata. 3 vols. [Books 1-5]. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1973-1978. [492 pp.; 864 pp.; 572 pp.; primarily prose, but occasional verse]
 
English Translations of the Bhagavad Gita (Alphabetical by Translator)

Deutsch, Eliot, ed. and trans. The Bhagavad Gita. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968. [192 pp.; prose; some annotation]

Easwaran, Eknath, trans. The Bhagavad Gita. Ed. Diana Morrison. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1985. [246 pp.; prose; annotations; glossary; index]

Edgerton, Franklin, ed. and trans. The Bhagavad Gita. 1944; rpt. New York: Harper and Row - Harper Torchbooks,1965. [202 pp.; verse; annotations; index]

Hill, W. Douglas, ed. and trans. The Bhagavadgita: An English Translation and Commentary. 2^nd ed. 1928; Bombay: Oxford UP, 1953; rpt. 1966. [233 pp.; prose; profuse annotations; index]

Johnson, W. J., ed. and trans. The Bhagavad Gita. Oxford: Oxford UP - World's Classics, 1994. [95 pp.; prose; good annotation; glossary]

Lal, P., trans. ["transcreator."] The Bhagavadgita. New Delhi: Orient Paperbacks, 1965. [107 pp.; verse]

Mascaro, Juan, ed. and trans. The Bhagavad Gita: Translated from the Sanskrit. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1962. [122 pp.; prose]

Miller, Barbara Stoler, ed. and trans. The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. [168 pp.; verse; glossary]

Mitchell, Stephen, trans. Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000. [223 pp.; verse; lightly annotated]

Patton, Laurie L. ed. and trans. The Bhagavad Gita. Penguin Books - Penguin Classics, 2008. [234 pp.; verse; good literalism, especially in the various versions of names of personages; moderate annotation]

Prabhavananda, Swami, and Christopher Isherwood, trans. and eds. The Song of God: Bhagavad Gita. 1944; rpt. New York: Mentor Books, 1954 (-to date).  [Introduction by Aldous Huxley; 143 pp.; verse and prose; two appendices: the cosmology of the Gita, and the Gita and war]

Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, ed. and trans. Bhagavad-gita As It Is: Complete Edition with Original Sanskrit Text, Roman Transliteration, English Equivalents, Translation, and Elaborate Purports. New York: Macmillan - Collier Books, 1972. [981 pp.; prose; Sanskrit script and English transliteration of the Sanskrit text; good literalism, especially in the various versions of names of personages; extensive annotation; glossary; index]

Radhakrishnan, S., ed. and trans. The Bhagavadgita: With an Introductory Essay, Sanskrit Text, English Translation, and Notes. 1948; rpt. New Delhi: HarperCollins, 1998. [388 pp.; prose; English transliteration of the Sanskrit text; good annotation; index]

Sargeant, Winthrop, trans. The Bhagavad Gita. Albany, NY: State U of New York P, 1984. [739 pp.; verse; Sanskrit script and English transliteration of the Sanskrit text; good literalism, especially in the various versions of names of personages; extensive annotation]

Sargeant, Winthrop, trans. Pocket Bhagavad Gita. Albany, NY: State U of New York P, 1994. [195 pp.; prose; tiny page size]

Van Buitenen, J.A.B., ed. and trans. The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata: Text and Translation. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1981. [176 pp.; prose; English transliteration of the Sanskrit text; annotation; index]

Zaehner, R. C., ed. and trans. The Bhagavad-Gita: With a Commentary Based on the Original Sources. 1966; rpt. London: Oxford UP, 1969, 1973. [480 pp.; prose; English transliteration of the Sanskrit text; good annotation; index]

Helpful Short Summaries of the Mahabharata

Dowson, John, ed. and comp. A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion: Geography, History, and Literature. 1880; rpt. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 1998.

Dutt, Manmatha Nath, trans. A Prose English Translation of the Mahabharata. [See above in the section on complete translations.] Dutt's detailed summaries for every section of all eighteen books are useful, detailed, and accurate.

Sargeant, Winthrop, trans. and ed. The Bhagavad Gita. Albany, NY: State U of New York P, 1984. [See above in the section on translations of the Gita; Sargeant includes a 26-page summary of the Mahabharata in his introductory materials, "The Setting of the Bhagavad Gita," pp. 9-34]

Van Buitenen, J.A.B., ed. and trans. Mahabharata. [See above in the section on abridged translations and retellings.] Van Buitenen's detailed summaries for each section of the first five books are useful, detailed, and accurate.

Notes on Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita  

-- the longest epic in the world; comprised of eighteen books or Parvans; estimated to be 100,000 couplets (200,000 lines), about eight times the combined length of the Iliad and Odyssey

-- the title is a compound of maha ("large, great") and bharata ("the Bharatas"), implying "the great (tale) of the Bharatas [descendants of Prince Bharata]"; the Bharatas were a tribe of Aryans known from Vedic antiquity who claimed a legendary Bharata as their ancestor

-- authorship is attributed to Vyasa, "the arranger" (the meaning of the name Vyasa, "arranger," suggests the primary role of an arranger, compiler, or editor in compiling and editing this work; what is also called "recension"); Vyasa actually appears as a main character in the text

-- only 1/3 to 1/4 of the whole epic deals with the central story, ultimately based in history, of the conflict between the two great houses of the Kurus/Kaurauvas and the Pandus/Pandavas (the civil war that results is comprised of 18 battles fought on 18 days); the overall work is a massive collection of heroic and mythological legends, sermon-like essays, worldly and spiritual advice to the aristocratic and warrior class on appropriate conduct for military prowess and reverential duties, codes of laws, popular proverbs, and moral tales

-- the Mahabharata is divided into 18 books, plus hundreds of chapters; see a brief listing of the books and their contents, which follows an overall summary of the work, below; as an echo of the 18 books of the overall Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, contained in Book 6 of the Mahabharata, is also so divided into 18 units

-- the primary verse form of the work, including the Bhagavad Gita, is the s(h)loka, a couplet with each line having sixteen syllables; in English verse translations, each long line naturally divides into two lines of eight syllables each, creating a four-line stanza (quatrain) in place of the original two-line stanza (couplet); at times, including in the Bhagavad Gita, the tris(h)tubh is used: with lines of twenty-two syllables each; Barabara Stoler Miller in her translation uses the quatrain for the s(h)loka and an eight-line stanza (octet, octave) for the tris(h)tubh

-- one problem in translating the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavad Gita within the Mahabharata, is the variety of synonym-names or epithets substituting for the names for many characters; Sargeant in his 1984 translation of the Gita enumerates 26 such names for Krishna and 21 epithets or synonyms for Arjuna in the Gita. For Krishna: Hrsikesa: the bristling-haired one; Acyuta: the imperishable one or one who has not fallen; Madhava: descendant of Madhu [a Yadava or madhava patriarch]; Kesava: the handsome-haired one; Govinda: chief of herdsmen; Madhusudana: destroyer of the demon Madhu [properly, an epithet of Vishnu]; Janardana: agitator of men, or mankind-tormenting [an epithet of Vishnu]; Varsneya: clansman of the Vrsnis; Kesinisudana: slayer of the demon Kesin; Arisudana: destroyer of the enemy; Bhagavan: blessed one; Vasudeva: son of vasudeva; Prabho: splendid one; Mahabaho: mighty armed one [a general epithet of warriors]; Yadava: descendant of Yadu; Purusottama: Supreme spirit or best of men; Mahatman: whose self is great; Visnu: Vishnu [whose avatar Krishna is]; Devesa/Deva Isa : Lord of gods; Anantarupa: whose form is endless or infinite form; Prajapati: Lord of Creatures; Aprameya: immeasurable one; Apratimaprabhava: incomparable glory; Isam Idyam: Lord to be praised; Deva: God; Sahasrabaho: thousand-armed one. For Arjuna: Dhanamjaya: conqueror of wealth; Pandava: son of Pandu; Kapidhvaja: the monkey-bannered; Partha: son of Prtha; Kaunteya: son of Kunti; Gudakesa: thick-haired one; Paramtapa: scorcher of the foe; Purusarsabha: bull among men; Mahabaho: mighty armed one [general epithet of warriors]; Kurunandana: son of Kuru, or joy of Kuru; Anagha: blameless one; Bharata: descendant of Bharata; Dehabhrtam Vara: best of the embodied; Kurusrestha: best of Kurus; Savyasacin: ambidextrous archer; Kiritin: diadiemed one; Kurupravira: chief Kuru hero; Bharatasretha: best of the Bharatas; Bharatasattama: highest of the Bharatas; Purusavyaghra: tiger among men.

 

Krishna (26 epithets, antonomasias, given by Winthrop Sargeant):	Bhagavan: blessed one	Kesava: the handsome-haired one	Prajapati: Lord of Creatures
Acyuta: the imperishable one or one who has not fallen	Deva: God	Kesinisudana: slayer of the demon Kesin	Purusottama: Supreme spirit or best of men
Anantarupa: whose form is endless or infinite form	Devesa/Deva Isa : Lord of gods	Madhava: descendant of Madhu [a Yadava or madhava patriarch]	Sahasrabaho: thousand-armed one
Aprameya: immeasurable one	Govinda: chief of herdsmen	Madhusudana: destroyer of the demon Madhu [properly, an epithet of Vishnu]	Varsneya: clansman of the Vrsnis
Apratimaprabhava: incomparable glory	Hrsikesa: the bristling-haired one	Mahabaho: mighty armed one [a general epithet of warriors]	Vasudeva: son of vasudeva
Arisudana: destroyer of the enemy	Isam Idyam: Lord to be praised	Mahatman: whose self is great	Visnu: Vishnu [whose avatar Krishna is]
	Janardana: agitator of men, or mankind-tormenting [an epithet of Vishnu]	Prabho: splendid one	Yadava: descendant of Yadu

 
Barabara Stoler Miller, whose translation is used in the NAWLS2, like many translators, simply does not translate these, substituting the main name intended (e.g., instead of Bibhatsu, Dhananjaya, Gudakesha, Jisnu, Pakasasani, Partha, Phalguna, Savyasacin, or Svetavahana, Barbara Stoler Miller always translates "Arjuna"; instead of Govinda, Hari, Janardana, Madhava, or Madhusudana, Barabara Stoler Miller always translates "Krishna"); this practice of simplification often deletes some of the meaning of the literary work: for example, when Arjuna addresses Krishna as "destroyer of the demon Madhu" in verse 35 of Book/Chapter/Teaching/Discourse 1 of the Bhagavad Gita (see the English translations below), Krishna's message to Arjuna of the necessity of fighting and action is suggested or connoted in the very name or epithet, none of which is evoked by the simplified translation of just the name "Krishna"

Overall Summary

        In the following summary, one of the several things lost is the sense of the multiple "frames" and "frame story" structure of the Mahabharata.

        Among the descendants of King Bharata, after whose name India was called Bharata-varsha, "land of the Bharatas," there were two successors to the throne of Hastinapura, the capital city and territory. Of these, the elder, Dhritarashtra (or Kuru), was blind and gave over rule to his younger brother Pandu. But Pandu wearied of his duties and retired to hunt and enjoy himself. Again Dhritarashtra took control, aided by the advice and example of his wise old uncle, Bhishma. Upon Pandu's death, his five sons, the first three with his wife Kunti-Yudhishthira, the eldest, renowned for righteousness and wisdom; Bhima (name = "the terrible"), second oldest, renowned for amazing strength and his wielding of the mace; Arjuna (name = "white"), third oldest, renowned for skill with the bow and all weapons; and Nakula (renowned for skill with the sword) and Sahadeva, twins, the two youngest, and sons of Madri, Pandu's other wife-were put under the care of Dhritarashtra, who had one hundred sons of his own. At first, the king's household was peaceful--including the common training of all the sons under the Kurus' martial arts master, Drona--but gradually the greater abilities of Pandu's sons than Dhritarashtra's sons caused jealousy of the latter and dissension. As a replacement of Dhritarashtra, whose abilities had been questioned in the first place because of his congenital blindness, Yudhishthira was judged most promising as heir-apparent. To this selection of their cousin as the future king, the present king's own sons took violent exception and persuaded their father to send the Pandavas away from the court to live by themselves. Unknown to the king, the unscrupulous Duryodha/Duryodhana, eldest son and often the motive force of the Kurus or Kurauvas (and closest to the villain of the epic), arranged with the builder to create a fire-trap house that would kill all the Pandavas and their mother Kunti after they had moved into their new home. Some senior members of the Kuru court disapproved of the exile, and Dhritarashtra's younger brother, Vidura, having warned the Pandavas (as he will do more than once about various plots), the Pandavas escape the blaze and go into rustic exile, disguised as Brahmans/Brahmins.

        Meanwhile, King Drupada announces that Draupadi would be given in marriage to the hero surpassing all others in a feat of strength and skill; and he invites throngs of noblemen to compete for his daughter. In disguise as itinerant Brahmans, the Pandavas attend the two-week celebration, including the trials, which involve stringing an enormously-difficult-to-string bow, and then hitting a metal target with the arrow. After many failures of contestants, Arjuna, still in disguise, performs the feat. However, when Draupadi is brought by the brothers to where they and their mother are living, the mother, without knowing what prize they have won, says that the prize must be shared equally (as the brothers have always done heretofore), and thus Draupadi becomes the wife (shared according to a plan that is developed) of all five brothers. Krishna, a nobleman (and one of the incarnations of the god Krishna), who was at the contest, recognizes the Pandas through their disguise and comes to their house to befriend them. And King Drupada also suspects that the strength and skill shown by the disguised Arjuna and Bhima at the contest indicates that the reported Pandavas' death in the fire is wrong. He is overjoyed at his prayed-for family alliance with the Pandavas having come true, since he has grievances against the Dhritarashtra/Kuru household. Some time later, the Pandava household is disturbed when a Brahman, under attack by thieves, noisily solicits aid from the Pandavas, and Arjuna is caught between his duty to help the petitioner and violation of the household law forbidding one brother to intrude on another when the brother is with Draupadi: the eldest brother is with Draupadi in the weapons room, which Arjuna must enter to get his bow. (This conflict between duties has some parallels with Arjuna's conflict in the Bhagavad Gita section of the work.) After getting his bow from the weapons room and saving the Brahman, Arjuna returns home and insists on going into a voluntary twelve-month forest exile for his violation of law. During this exile he meets several women, including Subadra, Krishna's sister, who becomes his second wife (by kidnap, with her brother's, Krishna's, complicity!); he also engages in an epic battle, with Krishna as ally, to let the fire god Agni "eat" a forest that is being protected by Indra and the other gods; Agni gives Arjuna a magical bow, Gandiva, and a spirit who is saved from the fire by Arjuna, Maya (or Moya), grants Arjuna any boon Arjuna wishes. Arjuna asks Maya, who is a sort of Vulcan-like or Hephaestos-like artificer to the gods, to build an assembly hall for the eldest Pandava. This assembly hall surpasses all other earthly ones, and is one more thing that provokes the envy of Kuru's eldest son, Duryodha.

        Learning that the Pandavas are alive and now allied with another powerful king, Dhritarashtra, with advice from the same advisers at court who are sympathetic to the Pandavas (Vidura, brother to Dhritarashtra, and uncle to the Pandavas; Bhishma, uncle of Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura; and Drona, the household martial arts instructor, who has taught both the Kurus/Kurauvus and the Pandus/Pandavas), decides to divide his kingdom into two parts, one for his sons, and one for the Pandavas. The attempt of the aging king Dhritarashtra to settle political affairs amicably results in peace and prosperity briefly, but then his envious and wily eldest son, Duryodhana, with the approval of Dhritarashtra, sets another trap for the Pandavas, about which they are again warned by their friendly uncle at Kuru court, Vidura. The Pandavas are sent a polite invitation (which they are unable to refuse out of duty and courtesy) to see their uncle Dhritarashtra's new assembly hall, and then Yudhishthira is formally challenged (thus, according to the warrior and aristocratic code, preventing refusal) into two dice games, which are rigged by the unscrupulous and cheating expert gambler Shakuni, king of Gandhara and brother of Kuru's wife. In the first game, the eldest Pandava loses literally everything that they have, even their clothes, personal freedoms, and wife, Draupadi, who is repeatedly insulted after the loss. Although king Kuru is persuaded by some wise court counselors to return everything to the Pandavas and send them back home, he vacillates yet again under pressure from his envious son, Duryodha, recalls the Pandavas for a second dice game, and when the eldest Pandava inevitably loses, the penalty is that the five brothers are to leave the court and spend the next twelve years in the forest. At the end of that time, they are to have their kingdom and holdings once again if they can pass another year in some inhabited territory in disguise without anyone recognizing them; if they are unsuccessful, then they must spend another twelve years of forest exile.

        The Pandavas have many romantic and heroic adventures in their twelve-year period of rustication and in their thirteenth year enter the service of the king of Virata in disguise. The disguised brothers grow in favor and render great assistance to the king in repelling the attacks of the king of Trigartta, as well as of the Kurus/Kurauvas. When the time of their exile expires, Arjuna and Bhima make themselves known in defending an ally of Virata's against a cattle raid by the Kurus/Kurauvas. Duryodha asserts that the Pandus are premature according to the rule of the exile, but Drona and Bhishma concur in their calculation that the required thirteen years have elapsed. Despite the law being on the Pandus' side, and despite their attempt to negotiate with the Kurus, involving even Krishna as an envoy, the Kurus and especially Duryodha remain unyielding - they will not return the Pandus' former possessions. Preparations for war begin, and allies are sought by both sides, and finally the rival armies are drawn up for battle at Kuruksetra, a plain north of Delhi, whose name means "field of the Kurus/righteousness/law/truth." After the battle, in which the honorable Bhishma, who has often been on the side of the Pandus, is killed, doing his duty for the Kuru household, Samjaya (or Sanjaya), king Kuru's bard, is asked by the blind king Kuru for an eyewitness account, and this sets up the frame structure of the Bhagavad Gita, in Book 6 of the Mahabharata: an account of all that happened, including Arjuna's doubts and then dialogue with Krishna. (The interchange between Samjaya/Sanjaya and Dhritarashtra/Kuru opens and closes the Bhagavad Gita section of Book 6 of the Mahabharata.)

        In the many battles, the army of Duryodha/Duryodhana is commanded in succession by his great-uncle Bhishma, Drona, Karna (king of Anga), and S(h)alya (king of Madra). Bhishma allows himself to be fatally wounded by Arjuna, but decides, because of another magic gift (besides determining the occasion on which he would die, the exact time of his death) to live until the next favorable astrological time for his death. All the others fell in succession, including Drona, the martial arts instructor of both the Kurus and Pandavas, who is favorable toward the latter but does his duty toward the former, and at length only three leading warriors in the Kuru army-Kripa, Ashvathaman, and Kritavarma-are left alive with Duryodhana. Bhima (the second oldest Pandu brother) and Duryodhana fight in single combat with maces, and Duryodhana is mortally wounded, these wounds being a symbolic requital for his earlier insults to the Pandu family. The three surviving leading warriors from the Kuru army make a night attack on the camp of the Pandavas, which is successful because the Pandavas aren't in camp and the army is slumbering, and destroy the five children of the Pandavas, as well as all the Pandava army, except the five brothers themselves. The Pandavas revenge themselves on the principal attacker, and then go to Dhritarashtra's capital city, Hastinapura, where, after a reconciliation with king Kuru/Dhritarashtra, Yudhisthira is finally crowned king. However, he is greatly depressed and troubled by the loss of kindred and friends. Soon after he is seated on the throne, the ashvamedha sacrifice is performed with great ceremony, and the Pandavas live for a time in peace and prosperity.

        The old blind king, Kuru/Dhritarashtra, cannot forget or forgive the loss of his sons, and mourns especially for Duryodhana. Bitter reproaches and taunts pass between him and Bhima; at length he, with his wife Gandhari, with Kunti, mother of the Pandavas, and with some of his ministers, retire to a hermitage in the woods, where, after two years' residence, they perish in a forest fire. Deep sorrow and remorse seize upon the Pandavas, and after a while Yudhisthira abdicates his throne and departs with his brothers to the Himalayas, in order to reach the heaven of Indra on mount Meru. A dog follows them from Hastinapura. Sins and moral defects now apparently prove fatal to the pilgrims. Drapaudi falls ("too great was her love for Arjuna"), then Sahadeva ("he esteemed none equal to himself"), then Nakula ("ever was the thought in his heart: there is none equal in beauty to me"), then Arjuna ("in one day I could destroy all my enemies"), then Bhima ("when thou gazed on thy foe, thou cursed him with thy breath; therefore thou fall today"). Yudhisthira goes on alone with the dog until he reaches the gate of heaven. He is invited by Indra to enter, but he refuses unless his brothers and Draupadi are also received: "Not even into thy heaven would I enter if they were not there." He is assured that they are already there, and is again told to enter, "wearing his body of flesh." He again refuses unless his dog, also, can be among the company. Indra argues in vain, with Yudhisthira insisting "never, come weal or come woe, will I abandon you, faithful dog." Yudhisthira is at length admitted, but to his dismay he finds there Duryodhana and his enemies, but not his brothers or Draupadi. He refuses to remain in heaven without them, and is conducted to the jaws of hell, where he beholds terrible sights and hears wailings of grief and anguish. He recoils, but well-known voices implore him to remain and assuage their sufferings. He triumphs in this crowning trial, and resolves to share the fate of his friends in hell rather than abide with their foes in heaven. Having endured this supreme test, the whole scene is shown to be the effect of maya or illusion, and he and his brothers and friends dwell with Indra in full content of heart forever.

The contents and titles of the 18 books of the Mahabharata

1. Adi-parvan: "Origins," containing creation of the universe and the genealogies and youthful adventures of the conflicting parties

2. Sabha-parvan: "The Gambling Hall" or "Assembly Book" relates the fateful gambling matches leading to the Pandava brothers' exile to the forest

3. Aranyaka-parvan (or Vana-parvan): "The Forest," describing the Pandvas' sojourn as exiles in the forest

4. Virata-parvan: "At King Virata's Court," narrating the adventures of the Pandavas in the thirteenth year of their exile, while they were in the service of King Virata

5.Udyoga-parvan: "Preparations" or "Effort Book" (for war): persistent refusal of Duryodhana to negotiate the return of the Pandus'/Pandavas' possessions and territory; the preparations of both sides-Pandavas and K(a)uravas for war

6. Bhis[h]ma-parvan: "Book of Bhis[h]ma" or "Bhis[h]ma's Generalship," narrates the battles fought while Bhis[h]ma commanded the Kaurava army; contains the Bhagavad Gita

7. Drona-parvan: "Book of Drona" or "Drona's Generalship": narrates events while Drona, martial arts trainer of both the K(a)uravas and Pandavs, leads the K(a)urava army

8. Karna-parvan: "Book of Karna" or "Karna's Generalship": events during the command of the Kurava army by Karna, close ally of the Kurus and of Duryodha, and unacknowledged son of the three eldest Pandava brothers' mother, Kunti, and the sun god before Kunti married Pandu

9. S(h)alya-parvan: "Book of S(h)alya" or "S(h)alya's Generalship": the command of the Kuru/K(a)urava army by S(h)alya, king of the Madras, and brother of Madri, second wife of Pandu (he leaves the side of the Pandavas and goes over to the Kurus/Kauravas; acts as charioteer of Karna and succeeds Karna as general), during which Duryodhana is mortally wounded (though he doesn't die until after he hears of the successful attack on the enemy camp narrated in Book 10) and only three leading warriors from the army of the Kauravas are left alive

10. Sauptika-parvan: "Nocturnal Book" or "The Assault by Night": the night attack of the three surviving Kauravas on the Pandava camp

11. Stri-parvan: "Book of the Women" or "The Women": lamentations of Queen Gandhari and the women over the slain

12. S[h]anti-parvan: "Book of Consolation" or "Peace": a long and diffuse didactic discourse by the dying Bhis(h)ma on the morals and duties of kings; intended to assuage the grief of Yuhisthira

13. Anus[h]ana-parvan: "Book of Precepts" or "Instruction": a continuation of the dying Bhis(h)ma's discourses, and finally his death

14. As[h]vamedhika-parvan: "Book of the As(h)amedha" or "The Horse Sacrifice": Yudhisthira's performance of the horse sacrifice

15. As[h]ramavasika-parvan: "Book of the Hermitage" or "The Sojourn at the Hermitage": the retirement of Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, and Kunti to a hermitage in the woods, and their death in a forest fire

16. Mausala-parvan: "Book of the Clubs" or "The Iron Club": the death of Krishna and Balarama (elder brother of Krishna, and yet another incarnation or avatar, like Krishna, of Vishnu), the submersion of Dvaraka (Krishna's capital city) by the sea, and the mutual destruction of the Yadavas (descendents of Yadu, and the race in which Krishna was born) in a fight with clubs of miraculous origin

17. Mahaprasthanikak-parvan: "Book of the Great Journey" or "The Great Departure": Yudhisthira's abdication of the throne and his departure with his brothers towards the Himalayas on their way to Indra's heaven on mount Meru

18. Svargarohana-parvan: "Book of the Ascent to Heaven" or "The Ascent to Heaven": the struggles of the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi to enter heaven

- this numerical count of 18 books of the Mahabharata underlies why the Bhagavad Gita, which was incorporated into the epic, was composed or divided in 18 chapters; the symbolism of 18 occurs, as well, in the 18 battles on 18 days between the Pandu/Pandava and Kuru/K(a)ura(u)va armies

The Relation of the Literature of Ancient India, in Sanskrit, to the History of Language and of the Alphabet

     The world's earliest literatures preserved in writing depend on the history of writing, which extends back to about 3000 or 3500 BCE, as indicated by the following chart.  Although written records thus go back "only" as far as to 3000 or 3500 BCE, the oral tellings or retellings of them can and undoubtedly do, in some cases, extend further back in time.  Only the Egyptian, Assyro-Babylonian, and Chinese texts were recorded at the earliest dates of composition; the works of the other literatures, though composed earlier, were recorded in writing considerably later.

     The following chart indicates approximate dates of composition or writing down of literature that has left written records (excerpts from all of these ancient literatures may be found in the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Expanded Edition):
 
 

Literature	Range of Dates
Egyptian (religious lit., tales, poetry)	3000 BCE to 1300 BCE
Assyro-Babylonian (Gilgamesh epic, chants, folk tales)	2000 BCE to 1500 BCE
Indian Literature in Sanskrit (Rig Veda through Mahabharata)	1400 BCE to 500 BCE
Chinese Literature ("The Five Classics," Lao Tse, Confucius)	1140 BCE to 500 BCE
Hebrew Bible	950 BCE to 450 BCE
Greek (Homer's epics)	850-750 BCE

 

Various English Translations of Book One of the Bhagavad Gita

        How the Mahabharata has several frames and frame stories in its structure is suggested by the Bhagavad Gita itself, which opens with such a frame in Book/Chapter 1. As noted below, various English translations of the Gita assign various terms to the 18 units of the work: e.g., "Books," "Chapters," "Readings," "Teachings," or "Discourses."  Instead of a direct narration of the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna, the work begins with Dhritarashtra, the old blind king, head of the Kuru/Kurauva clan, asking Sanjaya, Dhritarashtra's charioteer and minister, to recite what has happened in a climactic battle.  Thus, the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna (frame story) occurs within the conversation between Dhritarashtra and Sanjaya (frame).  This frame structure is recalled in verses 18, 21, and 24 of Book/Chapter/Teaching/Reading 1 when Sanjaya partially interrupts his narrative with an address to his auditor, King Dhritarashtra.  Furthermore, all the translators have to deal with the linguistic wordplay of the first two words of Book/Chapter 1: dharmaks(h)etre kuruks(h)etre, which could be translated "Dharma field, Kuru's field."  The very first word -- in compound form -- of the Bhagavad Gita is dharma, a key word in the philosophy and religion of Hinduism (and discussed in NAWLS2). Also to be found in Book/Chapter 1 are elements associated with most epics: a roll call of the famous warriors, blowing of battle horns (in this epic, from conch shells), accoutrements of the warrior (conches, bows) that have their own names (cf. the name of the sword of King Arthur), the frightening sounds of the battle field, challenging yells of warriors, and so on. As mentioned previously, the synonyms or epithet-replacements of names are significant, as shown in the Deutsch translation.  Arjuna's use of the name "slayer of (the demon) Madhu" (verse 35) in itself suggests the necessity of battle against evil; likewise, Arjuna's reference to Krishna as "Govinda" (chief of the cowherders) (verse 32) is appropriate to Arjuna's sentiment about quitting political struggles and leading a retired pastoral life.

        Various translations call the eighteen sections of the Bhagavad Gita (the number derived from the number of  books of the Mahabharata) various terms. The sections are called "books" in Sargeant/1984; the sections are called "chapters" in  Deutsch, Easwaran, Edgerton, Johnson, Mitchell, Prabhupada, Radhakrishnan, Sargeant/1994, and Zaehner ; the sections are called "Readings" in Hill; the sections are called  "Teachings" in Stoler Miller; the sections are called "Discourses" in Patton; or the sections are not given any specific term, though each is numbered, in Mascaro and Van Buitenen;  or the sections are not given any specific term, though each is given a title, and numbered, in Lal and in Prabhavanda & Isherwood.

Click Here to See Various English Translations of the Complete Book / Chapter / Discourse / Reading / Teaching 1

To see the Sanskrit, English transliteration, and English translation of Chapter (or Book, or Teaching) 5 of the Bhagavad Gita, as well as hear a beautiful audio recitation of the Sanskrit with appropriate musical accompaniment of Tambura and flute, click anywhere on this underlined section heading
 

Krishna's Appearance in Popular Music

The culture of India had a profound impact on America and England in the mid sixties through early seventies, partly fostered by the interest of the Beatles, and particularly George Harrison, in the religion and music of India.  In 1970, George Harrison had a top ten 45 r.p.m. hit record "My Sweet Lord," which also appears on some of his CD's.

Krishna in the Visual Art of India, as well as in Later Literature of India

Krishna, whose name literally translates as "dark" or "black," is often referred to in Indian literature as the "dark Lord" or "blue Lord," as he is in Poem 37 by Mirabai (in the NAWLS2, pp. 1426-27), as the female speaker, identifying with Radha, Krishna's female lover, says "I'm colored with the color of dusk, oh rana,/ colored with the color of my Lord."  A fuller understanding of  Krishna and traditions about the god, including a connection to the Bhakti movement (personal, emotional connection with the god), can be gleaned from the NAWLS2 introduction "Medieval India: The Age of the Devotional Lyric"(1411-1414), as well as "The Bengali Vaisnava Saints' Songs of Devotion to Krishna" (1421-1429).  One typical pictorial representation of Krishna shows him as blue, carrying his characteristic flute, his distinctive musical instrument (click here), while at the Dallas, Texas, Hindu temple, Krishna is depicted as black (also a typical representation), accompanied by his main female consort, Radha, whom Krishna encountered while spending a period with cowherds (click here). Like Shiva, Krishna combines art (many visual representations of him, from ancient times onward), music (Krishna's often-carried flute), and literature (the many occurrences of Krishna in India's literature.) According to the Mahabharata (the huge epic containing the Bhagavad Gita) and the Vishnu Purana (another literary, religious work),  the god Vishnu plucked out two of his own hairs, one white, the other black, and these two hairs entered the wombs of Rohini (one of the wives of Vasudeva) and Devaki (another of the wives of Vasudeva). The white strand of hair became Balarama (the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, and elder brother of Krishna), while the black strand of hair became Krishna (seventh incarnation of Vishnu). Much material is given in the Mahabharata about Krishna and his various exploits, while the fullest expansion of stories about Krishna is given in the later Bhagavata Purana, which includes a different story of Krishna's birth. In this latter work, the sage Narada foretells to Kamsa that a son of Devaki, his brother's daughter, would destroy him and overthrow his kingdom. To avoid this danger, Kamsa keeps his cousin Devaki confined in his own palace, and six children that she bears he causes to be put to death. When she conceived a seventh time, the child was an incarnation of Vishnu, and was miraculously preserved by being transferred from the womb of Devaki to that of Rohini, Vasudeva's second wife. This child is Balarama. Devaki again conceived, and her eighth child was born at midnight with a very dark skin, causing him to be called Krishna. He had a peculiar curl of hair, called Srivatsa, upon his breast, and the gods interposed to preserve the life of this divinely begotten child. The guards of the palace are overpowered with sleep, and bolds and barriers are removed. Vasudeva takes up the child and escapes with him from Mathura, journeying to the bank of the Yamuna (or Jumna) river, and ending at the house of Nanda, a cowherd, whose wife, Yasoda, had on that very night been delivered of a female child. Vasudeva secretly switches the infants, carrying back the daughter of Yasoda to his wife Devaki. Kamsa discovers that he has been cheated, and in his wrath orders that every male infant giving signs of vigor should be put to death. Vasudeva and Devaki, being no longer dangerous, are set at liberty. Nanda, alarmed by the order for massacre, takes the young child and removes with Yasoda and with Rohini and Balarama to Gokula. Here Krishna is brought up and wanders around in the company of his elder brother, Balarama, and has many adventures. The various adventures and stories from the literary sources cited provide the basis for many artistic representations of Krishna, from very early times through the eighteenth century and beyond.  A crucial reference work for the various details about Hindu mythology and religion is the dictionary by John Dowson, cited in the section "Helpful Short Summaries of the Mahabharata" at the beginning of this supplement.

Notes and Questions on  The Bhagavad Gita (above) and the NAWLS2 Excerpt of The Bhagavad Gita (Barbara Stoler Miller translation)

Explanation of abbreviation in the Notes and Questions: an Arabic numeral followed by a decimal point and then another Arabic numeral indicates a Book (or Chapter or Reading or Teaching) and a verse or stanza; thus 2.22 would indicate verse or stanza 22 within Book (or Chapter or Reading or Teaching) 2.

General Questions and Questions on Chapter / Teaching / Reading 1

1. (a) Both from my preceding notes, as well as from the preceding excerpt of Book (or Chapter or Reading or Teaching) 1, how is the Bhagavad Gita established in its form or structure as a "frame narrative"? (b) How do 1.2 - 1.3 establish the first frame within the frame? (c) How does the first frame within the frame end at 1.11, and how does a different frame within the frame begin at 1.21? (d) How can various subdivisions of the content of Book 1 be seen in 1.2 - 1.11, 1.12 - 1.19, and 1.20 - 1.47? (e) How is music an important ingredient of 1.12 - 1.19?

2.  (a) How do  various translations that are printed above handle the problem of translating the name of the place, Kuruks(h)etra, in the opening of Book or Teaching 1? (b) How do  various translations printed above handle the problem of the various alternative names for Krishna and Arjuna in Book 1 (above), as well as in the selections in the NAWLS2? See in the Notes and Questions above (before the translations of Book 1) the listing of the various epithets used as substitutes for "Krishna" and "Arjuna"; technically, such a substitution is the figure of speech antonomasia. Such substitutions are meaningful or significant or thematic in literary works. (c) Where Barbara Stoler Miller (BSM) translates "Arjuna" (1.20), the text literally says "Pandu's son"; "Krishna" (BSM), 1.21 - literally "Hrisikesa" and "Acyuta"; 1.21 in BSM misses Sanjaya's frame reference to Dhritarashta ("O Lord of the earth"); 1.24, "Arjuna", literally "Gudakesa"; "Krishna" (BSM), literally "Hrisikesa"; BSM omits direct address to Drhitarashta as "Bharata"; 1.25 "Krishna" (BSM), literally "Partha"; 1.26 "Arjuna" (BSM), literally "son of Pritha"; 1.27 - 1.28 ""Arjuna" (BSM), literally "son of Kunti"; 1.31 "Krishna" (BSM), literally "Kesava"; 1.32, one reference to "Krishna" (BSM) is literally "Govinda"; 1.35 "Krishna" (BSM), literally "Madhusudana"; 1.36 "Krishna" (BSM), literally "Janardana"; 1.37: omission in BSM of direct address to Krishna as "Madhava"; 1.39, "Krishna" (BSM), literally "Janardana"; 1.41: in BSM, the second direct address or reference to Krishna -- as "son of Vrisni" -- is omitted; 1.44 "Krishna" (BSM), "Janardana." (d) Several of the literal references to Krishna (missed in the BSM translation) allude to fighting and battle; how are such references thematic, foreshadowing what Krishna's answer to Arjuna about what Arjuna should do, and why? (e) For future reference: How is the figure of speech antonomasia used thematically in the Qur'an and Shakespeare's Hamlet?

3 - 1. (a) How might the function or functions of music be suggested in 1.12 - 1.19? (b) What might be the symbolism of the color of Arjuna's chariot horses (1.14), the picture on the flag carried by Arjuna's chariot (1.20; check other translations, besides BSM), the emphasis on Arjuna's weapon (1.20, 1.47), the position where Arjuna orders his charioteer to stop (1.21, 1.24)? (c) The reference to "three worlds" in BSM (1.35) should be annotated -- and is, inconsistently, in a later passage: 3.22. (d) 1.35 in BSM is a bit clearer in Zaehner's translation (see above, in the translations). (e) What several points concern Arjuna about engaging in the fighting, which Arjuna outlines in 1.26 - 1.47? 

3 - 2. A main purpose of Krishna in Teaching 2, Teaching 3, and Teaching 6 is persuasion: persuasion of Arjuna to reject hesitation about giving battle at Kuruksetra, and to discard worry about possibly slaying acquaintances, teachers, friends, or kinsmen on the battlefield. What devices of persuasion and argumentation and rhetoric does Krishna use in these Teachings or Chapters?  Where does Krishna use parallelism, repetition, figurative language, rhetorical question, exhortation or urging, or exclamatory exhortation?  How do these function as persuasive devices? How does Krishna himself call attention to stylistic devices or figurative language in verse or stanza 19 of Teaching or Chapter 6?

4.  Look up the word theophany in a collegiate dictionary.  How does this term apply in the Bible in the books of  Exodus (Ch. 33) and Job (Chs. 38-42)? How does this term apply in Teaching (or Book or Chapter) 11 of the Bhagavad Gita? How does the term apply in Genesis, and in Homer's Odyssey?

5.  Teaching 2, verses (or stanzas) 11-34 (a) How does the doctrine of reincarnation that Krishna explains to Arjuna in verses or stanzas 11-34 of Teaching 2 help allay Arjuna's concern about slaying acquaintances, teachers, friends, or kinsmen on the battlefield? (b) What figure of speech is used in verse or stanza 22? How does it imply that death and reincarnation may actually be good things rather than bad things? What ideas are implied about the relation of body and self (= soul, spirit, essence, atman)? How do these suggestions reinforce Krishna's persuasion of Arjuna? (c) How do verses or stanzas 16-17 appear to parallel the ideas of modern science about cosmogony and cosmology? (d)  In the last line of verse or stanza 18 how does Krishna combine logic and exhortation in the service of persuasion? (e) What figure of speech or rhetorical device does Krishna use in verse or stanza 21? (e) How is parallelism used as a stylistic, persuasive device in verses or stanzas 23-24 and 29? (f) How is repetition or cyclical structure, revolving around the concept of grief or sorrow, used in verses or stanzas 11, 25, 27, 28, and 30? (g) How does Krishna's term of address to Arjuna (that is, a name other than "Arjuna") in verse or stanza 26  help reinforce Krishna's persuasion and evoke the concept of dharma? How does this term of address connect to verses or stanzas 31-34, and verse or stanza 50, as well as to Chapter 6, verse or stanza 29? (h) What two important reservations about battle does Krishna introduce in the last line of 2.32?

6. Teaching 2, verses 47-58  (a) How do verses or stanzas 47-58 of Teaching 2 deal with the issue not of whether to take action but how to take action? (b) What figure of speech is used in verses or stanzas 47, 49, and 51? How does this figure of speech help suggest a wrongful allure in taking action? (c)  How does the figure of speech in verse or chapter 52 contrast with the repeated figure of speech in verses or stanzas 47, 49, and 51? How is the apparently positive image repeated in verses 47, 49, and 51, revealed to be negative in verse 52? (d) How is a connection between the spiritual and physical suggested by Arjuna's questions in verse 54?  How may this connection and the underlying idea of verse 54 be seen today in Yoga classes and in Martial Arts classes? (e) What figure of speech is used in verse or stanza 55, footnoted in the NAWLS2 excerpt, and echoed in the play in the English words "self" and "himself"? How is this figure of speech also used --- remembering that the word yoga, meaning "yoke" --- is what underlies the word "discipline" in the Stoler Miller translation --- in 6.23? (f) Why might Krishna use the particular figure of speech he does in verse 58 to speak about withdrawal? Take a few minutes to think of another figure of speech designating withdrawal (e.g., "as a person ducks into a cool cave to escape the heat of the blazing sun"). How or why is Krishna's particular figure of speech more pertinent and meaningful, as well as better for his persuasive purpose than an alternative one that could have been used?

7. Teaching 2, verses 11-34, and 47-58 As mentioned in explanatory material above about differences in translations, some translations, like Barbara Stoler Miller's (in the NAWLS2), simplify by not translating literally different names, synonyms, or epithets, actually used in the text rather than just "Krishna" or "Arjuna." In all the following stanzas or verses, the Miller translation has simplified and thus lost some of the meanings or overtones.  How, in each case, might the literal language of the original be more significant, meaningful, or persuasive, rather than just "Arjuna" or "Krishna": 2.14 - "son of Kunti" is used, not "Arjuna"; "Bharata" (from the Bharata family, or son of Bharata) is used rather than "Arjuna"; 2.15 - "Bull among Men" is used, not "Arjuna"; 2.18 - "Bharata" (not Arjuna); 2.21 - "Partha" (= "son of Prtha"), not Arjuna; 2.28 - "Bharata" rather than Arjuna; 2.30 - "Bharata" rather than Arjuna; 2.32 - "Partha" rather than Arjuna; 2.49 - "Dhananjaya" rather than Arjuna; 2.54 - "Kes(h)ava" rather than "Krishna"; 2.55 - "Partha" rather than "Arjuna."  Kunti is an alternate name for Prtha; after having a child by the sun god, she subsequently married Pandu, and as his first wife bore three of Pandu's sons, in conjunction with three of the gods: Yudhisthira (an avatar of the god Dharma), Bhima (an avatar of the god Vayu), and Arjuna (an avatar of the god Indra).  The other two of Pandu's sons were borne by Pandu's second wife, Madri. "Bull among Men" is a frequent epithet of warriors in the Mahabharata (and other ancient works of the literature of India), indicating great courage, strength, and indomitableness. Partha refers, like Kunti, to being a son of Prtha, an alternate name of Kunti, first wife of King Pandu. Kes(h)ava means "having much hair" or "having fine or handsome hair."

8. Teaching 3, verses 1-9 and 19-25 (a) How do the verses or stanzas in these two passages deal with the two subjects of (1) how action should be performed (not just why or whether action should be performed) and (2) why or whether action should be performed? (b) How does 3.1-9 deal with the two issues cited in question 8.a? (c) How does 3.19-25 deal with the issue of why action should be performed?

9. Teaching 3, verses 1-9 and 19-25 As mentioned in explanatory material above about differences in translations, some translations, like Barbara Stoler Miller's (in the NAWLS2), simplify by not translating literally different names, synonyms, or epithets, actually used in the text rather than just "Krishna" or "Arjuna." In all the following stanzas or verses, the Miller translation has simplified and thus lost some of the meanings or overtones.  How, in each case, might the literal language of the original be more significant, meaningful, or persuasive, rather than just "Arjuna" or "Krishna":  3.1 -  Krishna is used the first time, but "Kes(h)ava," not Krishna is used the second time; 3.9 - "Son of Kunti" is used rather than Arjuna; 3.22 - "Partha" is used rather than Arjuna; 3.25 - "Bharata" is used rather than Arjuna. Kes(h)ava means "having much hair" or "having fine or handsome hair."

10. Teaching 6, verses 10-32 (a1) Specific directions for the physical enaction of "discipline" (= yoga) are given in 6.11-17; why is a physical element important in trying to connect with the metaphysical or spiritual? (a2) Why concentrate, as per 6.13, concentrate on the tip of one's nose? Why not stare at one's navel (a cliche joke about Eastern religion and hippies in the 1960's) or right knee or the palm of one's left hand? (a3) How do 6.11-17 connect with Arjuna's query in 2.54? (b) How is an idea of a golden mean (also an ideal in ancient Greek culture) suggested several times in 6.11, 6.16, and 6.17? (c1) The term "crux" or "translation crux" is often used for a word or passage in a text that can be, and has been, translated in significantly different ways. Such a crux occurs in the reference to the seat of the meditating one needing to be "covered in cloth, deer skin, or grass" (6.11). What the Sanskrit word constituting the end of 6.11 says literally is the long combined word cailajinakussottaram, meaning "cloth, antelope skin, kusa grass, covering." Translations are divided about whether the word "or" or "and" is implied, with the majority favoring "and" (some translations favoring "and" add a clarifying "one over the other," not explicitly stated in the original text); that is, the translations basically are either "covered in cloth, antelope skin, or grass" or "covered in cloth, antelope skin, and grass."  Bhaktivedanta, Deutsch, Easwaran, Edgerton, Hill, P. Lal, Mascaro, Mitchell, Rhadakrishnan,  Sargeant (1984),  Sargeant (1994) all favor "and";  Johnson, Stoler Miller, van Buiten, and Zaehner favor "or." Several translations favoring "and" provide a footnote explaining that other texts and Hindu tradition elaborate that the coverings should be placed in reverse order: grass, then covered by antelope skin, then covered by cloth.  (c2) Both translation possibilities emphasize the idea or concept of separation; how might this concept connect to purification or to the meditation needed by the practitioner of yoga and Hindu religion? (c3) For translations favoring "and" (covering first in grass, second in antelope skin, and third in cloth), how might the order of the coverings represent something about the history of humanity or about humanity's relationship to nature? (d1) Which one of the figures of speech is explicitly called attention to in 6.19? (d2) How are the ideas of separation (related to purification or possibly transcendence), intrusiveness of the external world or of passions, and spiritual knowledge or transcendence conveyed by this particular figure of speech? How is this figure of speech superior to, say, "as a person takes shelter from the blazing sun in a cool, dark cave"? (e) Since "discipline" translates the word "yoga," itself meaning "yoke" or "binding," how is a pun conveyed about binding and unbinding in 6.23? (f1) What figure of speech occurs in Krishna's reference to the practitioner of yoga and spirituality "arming himself with discipline" (6.29)? (f2) How does this figure of speech connect backwards with 2.26, 2.31-34, and 2.58? How does Krishna subtly remind Arjuna about Arjuna's caste or social group and dharma in this figure of speech?

11. Teaching 11, verses 1-13 (a) Look up the word theophany in a collegiate dictionary.  How does this term apply in the Bible in the books of  Exodus (Ch. 33) and Job (Chs. 38-42)? How does this term apply in Teaching 11 of the Bhagavad Gita? How do the theophanies of the Gita and the Bible compare and contrast? (b1) In some ways, the culture of India could be characterized as one of multiplicity (e.g., many different languages, different ethnic groups, different religions); how would this concept apply to the manifestation of Krishna described in 11.5-7 and 11.10-11? (b2) Despite the multiplicity referred to in the immediately preceding subsection (b1), how is a unity or monotheism also implied in 11.5-7? (c) How is the appearance of Krishna (11.5-7, 11.10-11) related to the depiction of the Hindu gods in sculpture or painting? (d1)  What might the implications be of the diversity of colors of the god? (d2) How might the diversity of shapes of the god (11.5) relate to Krishna's presence in everything animate and inanimate in the universe (11.7)? (d3) How might the reference to the "countless mouths" of Krishna (11.10) relate to the concept of the god as including (1) the howling storm gods and the gods of wind (11.6), (2) all animate and inanimate things in the universe (11.7), and (3) a guru or teacher for Arjuna and others seeking spiritual enlightenment? (d4) How might the reference to the "countless . . . eyes" of Krishna (11.10) relate to the idea of Krishna as including (1) the sun gods, gods of light, and twin gods of dawn (11.6) and (2) the guru or teacher of Arjuna and others seeking spiritual enlightenment, including what Krishna gives Arjuna to enable the theophany (11.7-8)? (d5) How does Krishna's "brandishing many divine weapons" (11.10) imply ideas about (1) Krishna's body or anatomy, and (2) Krishna's argument to Arjuna in the Gita about Arjuna's dharma at this time?

12. Teaching 11, verses 1-13 As mentioned in explanatory material above about differences in translations, some translations, like Barbara Stoler Miller's (in the NAWLS2), simplify by not translating literally different names, synonyms, or epithets, actually used in the text rather than just "Krishna" or "Arjuna." In all the following stanzas or verses, the Miller translation has simplified and thus lost some of the meanings or overtones.  How, in each case, might the literal language of the original be more significant, meaningful, or persuasive, rather than just "Arjuna" or "Krishna": 11.2 - "lotus-eyed one" rather than "Krishna"; 11.3 and 11.4 - in both instances, the name Krishna is omitted, and just the epithets, given by Stoler Miller, are used; 11.5 - "Partha" is used rather than "Arjuna"; 11.6 - Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Ashvins, and Maruts are used rather than what the gods are divinities of; 11.6 - "Bharata" is used rather than "Arjuna"; 11.7 - "Gudakes(h)a" is used rather than "Arjuna"; 11.9 - "Hari" is used rather than "Krishna"; "Partha" is used rather than "Arjuna"; 11.13 - "son of Pandu" is used rather than "Arjuna." The lotus-eyed one referring to Krishna, connects to ideas referred to in question 11.d4 above; also, as noted in Heinrich Zimmer's Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization (Princeton UP, 1946; rpt. 1972), the lotus in Indian art had associations with symbolism of Brahma, of Kakshmi-Shri (the lotus goddess), of Moksha or Nirvana, and of Vishnu (growing out of Vishnu's navel; Vishnu puts forth the lotus in the creation of the universe). as explained in Eva Jansen's The Book of Hindu IMagery (Binkey Kok Publications, 1993; many times rpt.), the multiple symbolism of the lotus includes the ideas that (a) all life comes from water (suggested from the stem), (b) the fertility of earth (from the leaf), (c) the mother's lap (the flower), (d) virginity (the bud), (e) beauty, happiness, and eternal renewal (the whole flower), (f) the throne of the gods (the throne of the gods is a lotus flower), (g) attributes mainly of Surya, Vishnu, and Lakshmi. Gudakes(h)a means "whose hair is in tufts" (= "thick-haired one," in the Sargeant [1984] translation). Hari (literally, "the yellowish-green one") is usually a name designating Vishnu, but is occasionally used for other gods. For son of Pandu and Bharata, see the general synopsis of the Mahabharata, in a section above; for Partha, see question 7, above.

13. Connections among the Art, Music, and Literature in Indian Culture, as Noted by Professor Walter Evans -  Professor Walter Evans has noted five main ideas or themes connecting the various works of art, music, and literature: (1) Multiplicity, Profusion, Inclusion; (2) Fluid Conceptions (categories not rigid; organic conception of reality); (3) Evolution (e.g., a deity's threefold emanations; an individual soul's transmigration toward moksha); (4) Religious Symbolism (a continuing tradition that is pervasive and complex); (5) Openness to Sensuality and Emotion.  How does each one of these five main ideas or themes apply to the various works of art, music, and literature assigned for this unit in Humanities 2001 on the Hindu culture of early India?

14. Is the conception of the world as an illusion in Hinduism and other Eastern religions and philosophies completely at odds with modern Western science?  Were you paying attention to the general science lessons in middle school and high school? Parallels between modern Western science and Hinduism exist, with regard to the world being an illusion. Although matter appears solid and unmoving, it is composed of atoms and subatomic particles (protons, electrons, neutrons, and even stranger and smaller subatomic particles); atoms (a) are in motion (with spinning electron shells, called "valances" in chemistry), and (b) aren't solid, but have space between the nucleus and the electron shell or shells.  The world of Quantum Physics (underlying the atomic bomb and subsequent thermonuclear weapons) is even stranger; and modern scientific theories of the universe, acknowledging "Quantum Reality" are equally strange.  In one widely-accepted theory of the universe, more than one "big bang" has taken place; when the acceleration of matter finally stops, if enough matter in the universe can exert the gravity, all matter begins to contract to its original singular point, and then another big bang takes place.  What idea in Hindu religion does this scientific cosmology parallel? A highly recommended best-selling general survey of science,  written for a non-technical audience, which covers (often amusingly) the strange nature of the world as understood by science is Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything (Broadway Books, 2003; rpt. in paperback, 2004).