A 700-verse philosophical dialogue set within the Mahabharata, addressing duty, action, and the nature of the self.
The Bhagavad Gita ("Song of the Lord") is a dialogue that appears within the sixth book of the Mahabharata. In the narrative frame, a warrior hesitates on the eve of battle, and a long conversation follows about duty, action, and the self.
The Gita is a primary source in the sense that it is a foundational text of several later traditions. It is not a historical record of events, and this archive does not treat its narrative frame as verified history. Scholars debate its date of composition and whether it was composed as a single work or assembled over time.
Later commentators from different schools read the same verses in strikingly different ways. Those interpretations are covered as commentary, kept separate from the text itself, on their own pages.
One of the longest epics ever composed — a vast narrative that also functions as a repository of ethical and philosophical debate.
A cluster of ideas around duty, order, and right conduct that is understood differently across Indian traditions.
The principle linking action to consequence, understood differently across Indian traditions.
Liberation or release, framed as the ultimate aim in several Indian traditions — with each defining what it means differently.
The traditional attributed compiler of the Mahabharata and arranger of the Vedas; a figure of tradition rather than documented history.
A family of interpretive schools centered on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.