Gita Rahasya -Tilak 575

Srimad Bhagavadgita-Rahasya OR Karma-Yoga-Sastra -Bal Gangadhar Tilak

CHAPTER XV APPENDIX In this way, it is seen that 27 whole stanzas and 12 semi-stanzas appear sometimes word for word the same, and sometimes with slight verbal differences both in the Mahabharata and in the Gita ; and if a more thorough examination is made, there is a likelihood that one may come across many other stanzas and semi-stanzas which are common to both. If one wishes to see in how many places there are common combinations of two words or three words, or of quarter portions of a stanza, which are common to the Mahabharata and to the Gita, the above-mentioned list will have to be considerably increased. But, if we leave aside the similarity of words, and consider merely the question of similarity of stanzas in the above list, we cannot but say that the Mahabharata and the Gita must, have been written by the same hand. Considering the matter with reference to the different chapters, we see that out of the above-mentioned 33 stanzas, 1 comes in the Markandeya-prasna, 1/2 in the Markandeya-samasya, 1 in the Brahmin-Hunter conversation, 2 in the Viduraniti, 1 in the Sanatsujatiya, 1 in the Manu Brhaspati conversation, 6-1/2 in the Sukanu-prasna, 1 the Tuladhara-Jajali conversation, 1 in the Vasistha-Karala and Yajnavalkya-Janaka conversation, 1-1/2 in the Narayaniya dharma, 2-1/2 in the Anugita, and the rest in the Bhisma, Drona, Karna, and Stri parvas ; and in almost all these places, these stanzas have come at proper places with reference to the anterior and posterior contexts and are not interpolations. Nay, some of these stanzas seem to have been taken into the Gita by way of summarising. For instance, in order to understand the stanza " sahasra yuga paryantam " etc. , it would have been necessary to define the words ' varsa ' and 'yuga'; and in the Bharata and the Manu-Smrti, this stanza has been given after first defining these words. But in the Gita, this stanza has been mentioned without defining ' yuga ' etc. Considering the matter from this point of view, it cannot be said that these stanzas could have been adopted from the Gita into the various chapters of the Mahabharata ; and it is improbable that all these stanzas have been taken into the Gita from all those various chapters. Therefore, one is bound to come to the conclusion that the writer of the Gita must have been the same as the person who wrote these chapters. I must also mention here that, just as, many stanzas from the Manu-Smrti find their way into the Mahabharata, so also can we trace to the Manu-Smrti, the whole of the stanza " sahasra yuga paryantam" (8. 17) in the Gita, with slight verbal alterations; and the semi-stanza " sreyan svadharmo vigunah paradharmat svanusthitat " with the alteration that instead of ' sreyan ', the word ' varam ' has been used; and the semi-stanza " sarva bhutastham atmanam" , with the variation "sarva bhutesu catmanah" . In the Anusasanaparva of the Mahabharata, there is even a clear reference to the Manu- Smrti in the words " manuna bhihitam sastram " .