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.
Poet A.
LIKE the Bhagavadgita and the Sanatsugâtiya, the Anugita is one of the numerous episodes of the Mahabharata. And like the Sanatsugâtiya, it appears here for the first time in an English, or, indeed, it is believed, in any European garb. It forms part of the Asvamedha Parvan of the Mahabharata, and is contained in thirty-six chapters of that Parvan. These chapters—being chapters XVI to LI—together with all the subsequent chapters of the Asvamedha Parvan, form by themselves what in some of our copies is called the Anugita Parvan—a title which affords a parallel to the title Bhagavadgita Parvan, which we have already referred to. The Anugita is not now a work of any very great or extensive reputation. But we do find some few quotations from it in the Bhashyas of Sañkarâkârya, and one or two in the Sankhya-sara of Vigñâna Bhikshu, to which reference will be made hereafter. And it is included in the present volume, partly because it affords an interesting glimpse of sundry old passages of the Upanishad literature in a somewhat modified, and presumably later, form; and partly, perhaps I may say more especially, because it professes to be a sort of continuation, or rather recapitulation, of the Bhagavadgita. At the very outset of the work, we read, that after the great fratricidal war of the Mahabharata was over, and the Pâṇḍavas had become sole and complete masters of their ancestral kingdom, Kṛishṇa and Arguna— the two interlocutors in the Bhagavadgîtâ—happened to take a stroll together in the great magical palace built for the Pâṇḍavas by the demon Maya. In the course of the conversation which they held on the occasion, Kṛishṇa communicated to Arguna his wish to return to his own people at Dvârakâ, now that the business which had called him away from them was happily terminated. Arguna, of course, was unable to resist the execution of this wish ; but he requested Kṛishṇa, before leaving for Dvârakä, to repeat the instruction which had been already conveyed to him on ‘the holy field of Kurukshetra,’ but which had gone out of his ‘degenerate mind.’ Kṛishṇa thereupon protests that he is not equal to a verbatim recapitulation of the Bhagavadgita, but agrees, in lieu of that, to impart to Arguna the same instruction in other words, through the medium of a certain ‘ancient story’—or purâtana itihâsa. And the instruction thus conveyed constitutes what is called the Anugîtâ, a name which is in itself an embodiment of this anecdote.
Poet A.
LIKE the Bhagavadgita and the Sanatsujâtîya, the Anugita is one of the numerous episodes of the Mahabharata. And like the Sanatsujâtîya, it appears here for the first time in an English dress—or, it is believed, in any European dress at all. It forms part of the Asvamedha Parvan of the Mahabharata, occupying thirty-six chapters of that Parvan. These chapters—chapters XVI to LI—together with all the subsequent chapters of the Asvamedha Parvan, form by themselves what in some copies is called the Anugita Parvan, a title that parallels the title Bhagavadgita Parvan already referred to. The Anugita does not today enjoy any very great or widespread reputation. Yet there are a few quotations from it in the Bhashyas of Sañkarâkârya, and one or two in the Sankhya-sara of Vijñâna Bhikshu, which will be noticed later. It is included in the present volume partly because it offers an interesting glimpse of various old passages of the Upanishad literature in a somewhat modified and presumably later form, and partly—perhaps more especially—because it claims to be a kind of continuation, or rather recapitulation, of the Bhagavadgîtâ. At the very outset of the work we read that after the great fratricidal war of the Mahabharata was over and the Pâṇḍavas had become sole and undisputed masters of their ancestral kingdom, Kṛishṇa and Arjuna—the two interlocutors of the Bhagavadgîtâ—happened to take a stroll together through the great magical palace that the demon Maya had built for the Pâṇḍavas. In the course of their conversation, Kṛishṇa told Arjuna of his wish to return to his own people at Dvârakâ, now that the business which had called him away from them was happily concluded. Arjuna could not, of course, resist this wish; but he asked Kṛishṇa, before he left for Dvârakä, to repeat the instruction already given to him on the holy field of Kurukshetra, which had slipped from his degenerate mind. Kṛishṇa then protests that he cannot give a verbatim recapitulation of the Bhagavadgita, but agrees instead to convey the same instruction in other words, by way of a certain ancient story—a purâtana itihâsa. The instruction so conveyed is what is called the Anugîtâ, a name that is itself an embodiment of this anecdote.