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Book Review
Prakrit adaptation of the Bhagavad Gita
M. NARASIMHACHARY
THE GENIUS OF DNYANESHWAR — An English translation of his rendering on the Geeta: Ravin Thatte; Pub. by B.K.L. Walawalkar Hospital, Diagnostic and Research Centre, Dervan, District Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. Rs. 750.
The Bhagavad Gita, forming part of the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, is the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna which took place on the sacred plains of Kurukshetra before the commencement of the Mahabharata war. Sant (Saint) Dnyaneshwar (Jnaneshwar) of Maharashtra (1275-96) composed 9000 verses in the Maharashtri Prakrit (an old dialect) expounding the Gita which contains only 700 verses in Sanskrit. This exposition is called Dhnyashwari (Jnaneswari). This is
not a regular commentary on the Gita; it is an independent work taking Gita as a reference and unravelling the concepts of all the Indian philosophical systems.
Very little history or biographical details are known about the Sant apart from what he has himself stated. His original name was Jnaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni. His Guru was one Nivritti, who also became his student. It seems his parents suffered at the hands of the then clergy. Sant Jnaneshwar, instead of becoming a revolutionary, became a persuasive saint who believed in evolution in the social set up. His utterances contain intuitive references even in scientific matters, which would surprise the modern man. He was a visionary and compassionate social philosopher. His verses embodying a number of metaphors are marked by sweetness of expression and apt choice of words. Jnaneshwar’s views on the worship of images in temples, position of men in society are revealing and interesting.
Features
The sumptuous volume under review embodies explanation and translation of the Jnaneshwari in metrical English. Ravin Thatte, a leading plastic surgeon, has done this marathon translation. There are 123 chapters in this work. In the words of the translator, about 15 per cent of the original has not been translated for fear of repetition or its obscurity.
In the opening paragraph of the introduction, the translator explains the Sanskrit word Geeta (Gita) as ‘song’. Since the Sanskrit word is in feminine gender, he calls the Gita, “she”. Of course, the Gita is referred to as Mata (mother). But the Sanskrit word for song is the neuter gender word Geetam, but not Gita. The word Gita implies that it is an Upanishad (the most important portion of Veda). Since the word Upanishad is in feminine gender, the word Gita related to it, also takes that gender. Orthodox Vedanta schools like Advaita, Visishtadvaita, Dvaita and Suddha Advaita view the Gita as the quintessence of the Upanishads.
Ravin Thatte’s translation is informative, facile and inspiring. He deserves our admiration for making available to the lovers of the Gita, the old Marathi composition of a young saint of medieval India, who believed that the Gita offers pragmatic solution for the ills of worldly existence.
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