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.
So much for what may be described as our primary sources of information on this subject. Let us now glance at the secondary sources. And, first, Nîlakaṇṭha in commenting on what is, according to his numbering, chapter XV, stanza 43, apparently distinguishes that chapter from what he speaks of as the Brâhmaṇa Gîtâ and Gurusishyasamvada, which, as he implies, follow after that chapter— thus indicating that he accepted in substance the tradition recorded in the passages we have already set forth, viz. that the first four chapters of our translation form the Anugita, the next fifteen the Brâhmaṇa Gîtâ, and the last seventeen the Gurusishyasamvada. This is also the view of Arguna Misra. At the close of his gloss on chapter IV, he distinctly states that the Anugita ends at that chapter ; and again at the close of the gloss on chapter XIX, he explicitly says that the Brâhmaṇa Gîtâ ends there. He also adds the following interesting observation : ‘The feminine form (Gita, namely) is used in consequence of (the word) Upanishad being feminine.’ The full title of that part of the Mahabhârata would then be, according to this remark of Arguna Misra, ‘the Upanishads sung by the Brâhmaṇa,’ a title parallel to that of the Bhagavadgita, ‘the Upanishads sung by the Deity.’ It. is to: be further remarked, that the last chapter of the Gurusishyasamvada is called in this commentary the eighteenth chapter of the Gurusishyasamvada, a fact which seems to indicate that Arguna Misra either found in the MS. which he used, or himself established, a separate numbering for the chapters in the several sections 1 of which the Asvamedha Parvan is made up.
So much for what may be called our primary sources on this subject. Let us now glance at the secondary sources. First, Nîlakaṇṭha, in his commentary on what is, by his numbering, chapter XV, stanza 43, apparently distinguishes that chapter from what he calls the Brâhmaṇa Gîtâ and Gurusishyasamvada, which, as he implies, follow after it—thus indicating that he accepted, in substance, the tradition recorded in the passages already discussed: namely, that the first four chapters of our translation form the Anugita, the next fifteen the Brâhmaṇa Gîtâ, and the last seventeen the Gurusishyasamvada. Arjuna Misra takes the same view. At the close of his gloss on chapter IV he states plainly that the Anugita ends there; and again, at the close of his gloss on chapter XIX, he says explicitly that the Brâhmaṇa Gîtâ ends there. He also adds the following interesting observation: 'The feminine form (Gîtâ, namely) is used in consequence of (the word) Upanishad being feminine.' The full title of that portion of the Mahabhârata would then be, according to this remark of Arjuna Misra, 'the Upanishads sung by the Brâhmaṇa'—a title parallel to that of the Bhagavadgita, 'the Upanishads sung by the Deity.' It should further be noted that the last chapter of the Gurusishyasamvada is called in this commentary the eighteenth chapter of the Gurusishyasamvada, which seems to indicate that Arjuna Misra either found in the manuscript he used, or himself established, a separate numbering for the chapters in the several sections 1 of which the Asvamedha Parvan is composed.