The Bhagavadgîtâ, with the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ — SBE Vol. 8 (trans. K. T. Telang, 1882)
The translator’s English as printed (K. T. Telang). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
A second point of similarity between the language of the Upanishads and that of the Sanatsugatiya is to be found in the phrase, ‘ He who knows this becomes immortal.’ This sentence, or one of like signification, is, as is well known, of common occurrence in the Upanishads and in the Brâhmaṇas. In the Bhagavadgitä, the verses towards the end, which come after Kṛishṇa's summing-up of his instruction, seem to be of a somewhat analogous, though in some respects different, nature. And in the Purâṇas we meet sometimes with elaborate passages extolling the merits of a particular rite, or a particular pilgrimage, and so forth. This form of the Phalasruti, as it is called, appears to have been developed in process of time from the minute germ existing in the Brâhmaṇas and the Upanishads. In the Sanatsugatiya, however, we are almost at the beginning of those developments ; indeed, the form before us is identically the same as that which we see in the works where it is first met with. It is a short sentence, which, though complete in itself, still appears merely at the end of another passage, and almost as a part of such other passage.
There is one other point of a kindred nature which it may be well to notice here. As in the Gita, so in the Sanatsugâtiya, we meet with a considerable number of words used in senses not familiar in the later literature. They are collected in the Index of Sanskrit words in this volume ; but a few remarks on some of them will not, it is thought, be entirely out of place here. The word marga¹—in the sense of ‘worldly life’—is rather remarkable. Sankara renders it by ‘the path of samsara’ or worldly life. And he quotes as a parallel the passage from the Khândogya-upanishad which speaks of returning to the ‘path.’ There, however, Sankara explains it to mean the ‘path by which the self returns to worldly life, namely, from space to the wind and so forth into vegetables, and food, ultimately appearing as a foetus. Another remarkable word is ‘ varga,’ which occurs twice in the Sanatsugâtiya. Sankara and Nîlakaṇṭha differ in their explanations of it, and Nîlakaṇṭha indeed gives two different meanings to the word in the two passages where it occurs. We may also refer here specially to utsa, 72tvig, and matvâ. In Boehtlingk and Roth’s Lexicon the only passages cited under ‘ utsa’ are from Vedic works, except two respectively from Suśruta and the Daśakumârakarita. One passage, however, there cited, viz. Vishzo/ pade parame madhva utsa, is plainly the original of the passage we are now considering. As to vztvig in the sense it bears here, we see, I think, what was the earlier signification of that word before it settled down into the somewhat technical meaning in which it is now familiar. And matvâ in the sense of ‘meditating upon’ is to be found in the Upanishads, but not, I think, in any work of the classical literature. These words, therefore, seem to indicate that the Sanatsugatiya was composed at a stage in the development of the Sanskrit language which is a good deal earlier than the stage which we see completely reached in the classical literature.
1 ] give no references here, as they can be found in the Index of Sanskrit words at the end of this volume.
A second point of similarity between the language of the Upanishads and that of the Sanatsujâtîya is to be found in the phrase, 'He who knows this becomes immortal.' This sentence, or one of like meaning, occurs frequently, as is well known, in the Upanishads and in the Brâhmaṇas. In the Bhagavadgitä, the verses near the end that follow Kṛishṇa's summing-up of his instruction seem to be of a somewhat analogous, though in some respects different, character. And in the Purâṇas we sometimes encounter elaborate passages extolling the merits of a particular rite, or a particular pilgrimage, and so forth. This form of the Phalasruti, as it is called, appears to have developed over time from the small germ present in the Brâhmaṇas and the Upanishads. In the Sanatsujâtîya, however, we are almost at the beginning of that development; indeed, the form before us is identical to what we see in the works where it first appears. It is a short sentence which, though complete in itself, occurs only at the end of another passage, and almost as a part of that passage.
There is one other related point worth noting here. As in the Gita, so in the Sanatsujâtîya, we encounter a considerable number of words used in senses unfamiliar in the later literature. They are gathered in the Index of Sanskrit words in this volume, but a few remarks on some of them seem worth making here. The word marga¹—in the sense of "worldly life"—is rather remarkable. Sankara renders it as "the path of samsara," or worldly life, and quotes as a parallel the passage from the Khândogya-upanishad that speaks of returning to the "path." There, however, Sankara explains it to mean the path by which the self returns to worldly life—that is, from space to the wind and so forth into vegetables and food, ultimately appearing as a foetus. Another remarkable word is "varga," which occurs twice in the Sanatsujâtîya. Sankara and Nîlakaṇṭha differ in their explanations of it, and Nîlakaṇṭha indeed assigns two different meanings to the word in the two passages where it occurs. We may also note here, in particular, utsa, 72tvig, and matvâ. In Boehtlingk and Roth's Lexicon the only passages cited under "utsa" are from Vedic works, apart from two drawn respectively from Suśruta and the Daśakumârakarita. One passage cited there, namely Vishzo/ pade parame madhva utsa, is plainly the original of the passage we are now considering. As for vztvig in the sense it carries here, we can see, I think, what the earlier meaning of that word was before it settled into the somewhat technical sense in which it is now familiar. And matvâ in the sense of "meditating upon" is found in the Upanishads, but not, I think, in any work of the classical literature. These words therefore seem to indicate that the Sanatsujâtîya was composed at a stage in the development of the Sanskrit language considerably earlier than the stage fully reached in the classical literature.
1 ] I give no references here, as they can be found in the Index of Sanskrit words at the end of this volume.