Bhagavad Gita Myth Or Mirage? - Introduction

The Aryans, who proved to be cultural invaders in ancient days enslaved the mental equanimity of the commoners by disseminating the irrational concept of puranas and epics. Epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata are the repositories of Sanskritic and Brahminical hegemony. It is this order that has been propagating the fictious and imaginary works to have been divinely professed and providentially blessed with the prime motive of perpetuating the 'varuna dharma' among the unlettered and even the lettered. In this category of highly propagandised material comes Bhagavad Gita which has been gaining a global publicity, however hollow the tall claims are. More by advertisement and publicity that Gita has been gaining ground all over the world.

Even those thinkers and intellectuals who accept that Gita was authored by a creative writer, attempt arguing in a different and curious manner to drive home the divine concept of Gita permanently among the public. This fallacious effort puts a stumbling block to the intellectual freedom of liberal thinkers besides being a stalemate to the formation of an egalitarian society. For a long time, it has become customary among the sophisticated scholars to think that to quote a stanza or two of the Gita is a passage to heavenly bliss besides a revelation of their intellectual maturity.

Under these circumstances, I happened to read a scholarly volume of The Truth about Gita authored by a liberal thinker and humanist of Andhra, Mr. Narla Venkateswara Rao. I began to devote more attention towards Gita with the knowledge already acquired through the pages of "Kudi Arasu", "Pagutharivu" and "Viduthalai" that had delineated from Gita, the questionable varuna dharma, insulting womanhood und unsustainable theory of soul and atma. I continued strenously to read more and more on Bhagavat Gita.

Thanthai Periyar in many of his speeches would leave the commoners to guess as to how the behavior of an insane person would be, if he is made to drink liquor furthermore. The real position would be a confusion worse confounded. Similar was the reaction that I received after having gone through the whole of Bhagavat Gita with a critical acument and in an historical perspective. Anybody who goes through the Gita would certainly be caught in similar confusion, however much he is nervous or reluctant to disclose it. The Reason is that Gita has been universally glorified and said to have been divinely propounded. Who could view it critically and much less to speak about it openly?

Plato, the great thinker of Greece and disciple of Socrates strangely quoted an Egyptian King to have said that in the nags to come, the invention of the art of writing would spoil he ingeniousness of scholars. It would bid farewell to the hen customary art of vocal expression, audition and then the ultimate repository of it in human brain. Hence in classical Greece, Socrates and Plato - like personalities gave importance of dialogue but not to the art of writing.

The scholarly opinion is that ancient epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata were not written or composed in the modern sense of the term. They were kept alive in oral transmission at the outset and only after a long time, they came to be written in script. Hence it is obvious that there was ample scope for interpolations, emendations and corruptions in the original text.

The conclusive opinion of the modern scholars is that Gita is an interpolation in Mahabharata. As the ancient scholars have at one time or other transcript the text of the epic, after having heard it for long, the Bhagavat Gita also must have been identically evolved in conversational style before inducted into the pages of Mahabharata at a later time. The Jarnashramites who felt suffocated because of an acceptable secular preaching’s of Buddha must have committed the induction of Gita into the epic, Mahabharata. In one of the Elokas of Gita, the term 'one who reads' is indicative of the act that there must have been one who created it and whose intention must have been to make others read it. The obvious conclusion, therefore that Gita must have been composed on the eve of the advent of the art of writing.

Kindly do not rush through the pages as you read a tale or a fiction. Attempt a leisurely reading of this book as if approach something a new and unusual with a view to digest it at length. The text is punctuated with a number of quotations to substantiate the arguments. More than a couple of years, I had to spend, availing occasional vacations, now and then. Especially during my stay in U.S.A. in the house f my elder daughter Mrs. Arul Balaguru, I was able to write number of chapters. A number of treatises and criticisms Bhagavat Gita plus various editions I have consulted after obtaining them from a number of libraries including the aged Saraswathi Mahal Library at Thanjavur.

My mentor Thanthai Periyar once said, “You have every right to reject my point of view. It is on the same score, I say have a right to express my views." This is what I wanted to say about this book of mine. The 'Other side of Gita' I have known with points that are relevant valid and sustainable and - no way they are unarguable or apocryphal. The modern amil World of great thinkers and intellectuals must be ready - welcome fresh thinking and thoughts anew that are bold and critical

In the threshold of the new millennium, ask yourself whether to dogmatically believe without thinking and then begin to peruse the pages of this work.'

I will have to thank the translator Dr. Palani Arangasami, r his keen interest in this work. He was a Professor in Tamil university and prolific writer. Even though I could undertake to translate my work in English, Dr, and Arangasami felt it would - a taxing burden on me. So he came to my rescue! I am tremely happy that a connoisseur of literature and a good holler has come forward for this thankless job! His sense of public service prompted him to take up this rk, a labor of love, that too, with firm commitment. My dear readers, please read this with an open mind. Then u are free to draw your own conclusions.

- K.Veeramani
Chennai .01.2001