SACRED CANTICLE. The name of a Sanskrit philo sophical poem of some seven hundred double verses, which forms an episode in the Mahabha rata (q.v.). The title Bhagarad-gita, feminine, is best explained by understanding the noun upan4ad, the significance being a philosophical treatise rendered in metre by the Blessed One. This remarkable production, in the form of a colloquy between the divine Krishna and the hero Arjuna, comprises IS cantos in the sixth book of the Mahabharata (0.25.1 — 0.42.78 = 11.830 — 1532). The situation is a striking one. The rival armies of the Mints and Pandus, foe men allied by the ties of family and blood alike, but severed by a fatal feud, are drawn up against each other in battle array. Before the final sig nal is given, Arjuna, the valiant leader of the Pandu hosts. hesitates to fight, foreseeing the awful slaughter and the bloodshed of kindred that must ensue. The divine incarnation of Vishnu, in the form of Krishna, as Arjuna's charioteer, overcomes his scruples and dispels his doubts by a long discourse on life and duty, and the part which every one must play in ful filling his obligations in the world. Action is inevitable in the performance of duty; but in devotion to the Supreme Spirit alone is salvation to be found. A vision of the Supreme Spirit is revealed to Arjuna in the transfigured image of Krishna, as described in Canto xi. 15, seq.
This philosophic discourse, hallowed by its association with the most momentous battle of ancient India, which follows at its close, has exer cised great influence upon the Hindu thought and mind from the earliest times to the present. The allegorical interpretation of it as bearing upon the contending forces of rival passions is a favor ite one with modern theosophists. and the Bhaga vad-gita has been looked upon for ages as a sacred text-book. The date of the poem, however, and its precise relation to the Great Epic, is a subject of much dismission. Scholars who do not
regard this didactic piece as an integral part of the .)lahabh5rata, nevertheless consider it to be undoubtedly one of the older poems in the epic, though not necessarily an old part of it. The critical tendency at present is to place the piece in the centuries preceding the Christian Era rather than following it. Points of resemblance between Gita and the New Testa ment need not claim any necessary consideration. From the standpoint of philosophy the Bhagavad gita is generally regarded as combining the Sankhya doctrine of matter and spirit with the Yoga tenets of meditation and Vedanta pantile ism. although as a poem it has no really con sistent system, and it is regarded by some as probably composed prior to the formal Vedanta and the formal Sankhya as actual schools. Con sult the articles under these names.
Editions of the Bhagavad-gita, criticisms and discussions of the poem. especially in India. num ber scores. The earliest printed edition of the Sanskrit text is by a Brahman, Baburama (Cal cutta, ISOS). There are modern versions in most of the Indian vernaculars. For the earliest European translation into English, consult C. Wilkins (London, 1785: revised edition, Bombay, IS87). For later English renderings, consult: Thomson (Hertford, 1855) : Davies (London, 1SA2.) ; Sir Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial. metrical (London and Boston, 1585) ; M. N. Dutt (Calcutta, 1895) ; and especially Telang, Bha garadgita. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. VIII. (Oxford, 1898). For full information as to Ger man, French, Italian, and even modern Greek versions, consult Holtzmann, Das Mahabharata, Vol. II. (Kiel, 1888) ; and von Schr6der, Indiens Litteratur and Kultur (Leipzig, 1887).