[Advaita-l] Release of of the book "The Original Bhagavad Gita"

[Sunil Bhattacharjya via Advaita-l]

Dear friends,



I am glad to inform you that the book "The Original Bhagavad Gita" of 745 verses (including the rare verses, in conformity with the Gitamana verse of the Mahabharata), with translation and commentary by me will be released in Delhi on the 19th May, 2014, under the auspices of WAVES. This book also has a lengthy introduction dealing with several nagging issues connected with the Bhagavad Gita, which baffled a number of modern scholars and many of them began to doubt even the length of Vulgate version of 700 verses..The invite for the same is attached. 

As regards the book the eminent Indologist, scholar and writer Prof. Klaus Klostermaier, has written his Foreword to the book as follows:

Sunil kumar Bhattacharjya is one of those remarkable Indian scientists who not only keep personally close to their religious heritage but also become religious scholars after their retirement from  their worldly profession. As he writes in his Foreword (Preface) he spent several decades in researching and writing of this volume. His ambition had been to restore a number of lost verses to the Bhagavad gita and to publish the Original Bhagavad Gita in 745 verses, instead of the customary 700. The lengthy introduction goes into the literary history of the Mahabharata and the vicissitudes of the Bhagavad Gita. The various redactions and the scholarly discussions concerning the length of the original Gita. In the process he also reviews the opinion of a number of recognized scholars, who have dealt with this issue. He also answers questions like "How could the discourse on the Bhagavad Gita  be given in the battle-fleld?", by explaining the rules of
 ancient Indian warfare.- apparently a much fairer and more chivalrous affair than our modern all-devastating wars.

The main body of the book gives the Sanskrit text in Devanagari and a transliteration that does without diacritics and a very readable English translation. The author / editor has clearly marked the verses that are not contained in the commonly available editions : an invitation to the scholars to study these in particular. Occasionally the author has inserted some commentaries of his own, helping the uninitiated to understand the difficult portions of the text. An alphabetized verse-index concludes the handsome volume.


This is a genuine enrichment to the large literature on the Bhagavad Gita and it will certainly arouse the interest of both scholars and General readers.

Regards,
Sunil KB