To be Read First
Narayana incarnated in India 5823 years ago as the sage Shri Veda Vyasa, who uplifted the vedas. He also composed the Mahabharata such that it exceeds the vedas in comprehension. Centered around the five Pandavas and written in Sanskrit, the Mahabharata is a great scripture that guides everyone on everything to this day.
After losing a gambling duel to the Kauravas, the Pandavas complete a period of exile and incognito living according to the terms of the duel. Upon return, they ask the Kauravas to return their kingdom. As the Pandavas’ envoy, Shri Krishna advised the Kauravas to give the Pandavas any share of the kingdom. When the Kauravas refuse to give even a small piece of land, war breaks out between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. 18 days of battle ensues in Kurukshetra. Krishna himself has joined the war as Arjuna’s charioteer. He has also advised and guided the Pandavas in warfare and protected them. The Pandavas are victorious and have ruled for 36 years under Krishna’s guidance.
The Kauravas’ father Dhritarashtra is blind [literally] and thus keeps himself appraised on the strife between the Pandavas and the Kauravas through his charioteer Sanjaya. Having seen the battle in Kurukshetra for 10 days, an alarmed Sanjaya shares with Dhritarashtra the news of Bhishma’s fall. Hearing the news, Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya to extensively narrate the war’s proceedings from its beginning. By Vyasa’s special grace, Sanjaya—who is Tumburu the Gandharva—adequately addresses all of Dhritarashtra’s questions and concerns as if he had seen and heard everything on the battlefield, and known every thought of the warriors there. That is how the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna at the start of the first day of the war has emerged from Sanjaya as the Bhagavad Geetaa [“ballad from the Lord”].
Here are Krishna’s messages and a brief “sameekshe” [summary] of them in Kannada [in turn translated to English here]. The Geetaa has tens of interpretations, and this particular work is in service of cogitation that is not opposed to Krishna’s doctrine. It is my offering and tribute to [my] gurus.
I have also provided translations of Geetasameekshaa in multiple languages. My heartfelt salutations to the the elder translators who cooperated in this sameekshe.
Invocation
nārāyaṇaṃ sura-guruṃ jagadeka-nāthaṃ bhakta-priyaṃ sakala-loka-namaskṛtaṃ ca ।
traiguṇya-varjjitamajaṃ vibhumādyamīśaṃ vande bhavaghnaṃ amarāsura-siddha-vandyam ॥
nārāyaṇaṃ namaskṛtya naraṃ caiva narottamam ।
devīṃ sarasvatīṃ vyāsaṃ tato jayamudīraye ॥
Preface to English translation
This English translation strives to preserve the sense of the text in the original Kannada work as well as preserve the voice of the original’s author. The translation includes editorial notes where necessary (but sparingly) to clarify context or to convey “natural English expressions”. The notes are shown within bracket marks as exemplifed in the main text of this preface.
Structurally and conventionally, Kannada text tends to be in the passive voice and often lacks articles (a, an, the); at times even referents. It is also common to use singular number where English text is likely to use plural. This translation brings forth the voice and the number in the Geetaa to preserve the original sense or flow. The translation also adds articles and referents if they are neeeded or are helpful. Such additions are either directly in the main text or are shown as editorial notes.
Lastly, this translation transliterates Sanskrit verses and other similar formal text using the IAST scheme. The invocation text in the preceding section is an example. However, in running text, proper nouns and other frequently-used Indic words are informally transliterated in English using spellings that are common for those words in India. For example, Narayana, Pandavas, Bhishma, and veda.