The Bhagavad Gita: A Biography

by Richard H. Davis

Overview

The life and times of India's most famous spiritual and literary masterpiece

The Bhagavad Gita, perhaps the most famous of all Indian scriptures, is universally regarded as one of the world's spiritual and literary masterpieces. Richard Davis tells the story of this venerable and enduring book, from its origins in ancient India to its reception today as a spiritual classic that has been translated into more than seventy-five languages. The Gita opens on the eve of a mighty battle, when the warrior Arjuna is overwhelmed by despair and refuses to fight. He turns to his charioteer, Krishna, who counsels him on why he must. In the dialogue that follows, Arjuna comes to realize that the true battle is for his own soul.

Davis highlights the place of this legendary dialogue in classical Indian culture, and then examines how it has lived on in diverse settings and contexts. He looks at the medieval devotional traditions surrounding the divine character of Krishna and traces how the Gita traveled from India to the West, where it found admirers in such figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Aldous Huxley. Davis explores how Indian nationalists like Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda used the Gita in their fight against colonial rule, and how contemporary interpreters reanimate and perform this classical work for audiences today.

An essential biography of a timeless masterpiece, this book is an ideal introduction to the Gita and its insights into the struggle for self-mastery that we all must wage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691139968
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/26/2014
Series:	Lives of Great Religious Books , #23
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Richard H. Davis is professor of religion at Bard College. He is the author of Lives of Indian Images and Ritual in an Oscillating Universe: Worshipping Siva in Medieval India (both Princeton).

Table of Contents

List of illustrations vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Bhagavad Gita in the Time of Its Composition 10

Chapter 2 Krishna and His Gita in Medieval India 43

Chapter 3 Passages from India 72

Chapter 4 Krishna, the Gita, and the Indian Nation 115

Chapter 5 Modern Gitas: Translations 154

Chapter 6 The Gita in Our Time: Performances 178

Epilogue The Bhagavad Gita in Great Time 204

Notes 211

Glossary of Sanskrit terms 227

Select English translations of the Bhagavad Gita 229

Further readings 233

Index 237

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is an exciting book about an exciting book, namely, the Bhagavad Gita, a text in which Hinduism comes closest to possessing a universal scripture. Davis traces the varying course of its semantic trajectory through history with erudite clarity. A must-read for anyone interested in the Gita."—Arvind Sharma, author of Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography

"No work of traditional India needs a biography more than the Bhagavad Gita, for no text has had a more complicated life, from its birth in the epic world of the Mahabharata to its maturity in Indian modernity. Reading intelligently depends in part on knowing how others in the past have read, and for the Gita's past, Richard Davis has provided the best guidance available."—Sheldon Pollock, Arvind Raghunathan Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies, Columbia University

"This superb and beautifully written book represents a substantial contribution to the field, and will become a first-tier resource for anyone interested in the subject. Davis's authoritative voice is a dependable guide throughout. I cannot imagine this book being done better by anyone else."—John Stratton Hawley, author of Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Times and Ours

"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this biography of the Bhagavad Gita. Its uniqueness rests in its breadth and historical scope—each chapter opens new contexts and perspectives. Davis is a careful scholar who writes clear, straightforward prose, remarkably free of jargon."—Diana L. Eck, author of India: A Sacred Geography

"Davis examines the Gita in its own time, in medieval and modern India, in its travels to Europe and America, and beyond—in other words, he presents the long view of this book's life. He is very learned and smart, and writes with a minimum of scholarly jargon, in a very accessible and interesting way."—Thomas R. Trautmann, author of India: Brief History of a Civilization

Editorial Reviews

Selected for WGBH News "Here are the books we read this year that we think you’ll love 2014

From the Publisher

"Davis . . . provides a comprehensive, detailed and lucid account of the ways that the Gita has lived over the centuries."

Cover Drive

"[The Bhagavad Gita: A Biography] appears in the worthy ‘Lives of Great Religious Books' series, which takes a novel approach to ‘great books.' Davis's execution of this approach is superb . . . Davis neatly organizes a great deal of material and he presents it in utterly accessible prose. This is an easy read - and a great one too."

Choice