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THE BHAGAVAD GITA; or, THE SACRED LAY.
A SANSKRIT PHILOSOPHICAL POEM.
Translated, with Notes,
By JOHN DAVIES, M.A. (Cantab.)
Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Cambridge Philological
Society, &c., and (sometime) Rector of Walsoken, Norfolk.
I. Introduction.
II. Translation.
III. Appendix.
(i) On the date at which the Bhagavad Gītā was probably written, and on the theory that it was written under an influence derived from a knowledge of Christian doctrines.
(ii) The traditional line of descent of the Lunar Dynasty.
(iii) Collation of two MSS. with the Bonn edition of the Bhagavad Gītā, and the readings of other editions and MSS.
In preparing this translation of the Bhagavad Gītā, the author had before him the Greek translation of Galanos, and the Italian version of Stanislao Gatti, both supplied by Dr. Reinhold Rost. The author also consulted the French version of Burnouf, the Latin version of Lassen, and the English versions of Mr. Thomson and K. T. Telang. The notes of Lassen have given valuable aid, as well as a paper on the Bhagavad Gītā, read before the "Akademie der Weissenschaften" of Berlin in 1826 by W. van Humboldt, which contained a scholarly review of the doctrines contained in the poem. The author has also consulted a MS. copy of the Commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā, written by Śrīdhara, and, by the kindness of Dr. Rost, another commentary, attributed to Śankara, but written by Śankara Ananda Saraswati (quot. at Ananda), and called Tātparya Bodhinī.
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HINDU PHILOSOPHY.
The SĀNKHYA KĀRIKĀ OF ĪŚWARA KRISHNA.
An Exposition of the System of Kapila, with an Appendix on the Nyāya and Vaiśeshika Systems.
By JOHN DAVIES, M.A. (Cantab.)
Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Cambridge Philological
Society, &c., and (sometime) Rector of Walsoken, Norfolk.
EXTRACT FROM PREFACE.
I wish to present to my readers the philosophy of Kapila as it has been set forth by his Indian exponent, Īśwara Krishna. The system of Kapila, called the Sānkhya or Rationalistic, in its original form, and in its theistic development by Patarijali, contains nearly all that India has produced in the department of pure philosophy. Other systems, though classed as philosophic, are mainly devoted to logic and physical science, or to an exposition of the Vedas.
The system of Kapila may be said to have only an historical value, but on this account alone it is interesting as a chapter in the history of the human mind. It is the earliest attempt on record to give an answer, from reason alone, to the mysterious questions which arise in every thoughtful mind about the origin of the world, the nature and relations of man, and his future destiny. It is interesting also and instructive to note how often the human mind moves in a circle. The latest German philosophy, the system of Schopenhauer and Von Hartmann, is mainly a reproduction of the philosophic system of Kapila in its materialistic part, presented in a more elaborate form, but on the same fundamental lines. In this respect the human intellect has gone over the same ground that it occupied more than two thousand years ago, but on a more important question it has taken a step in retreat. Kapila recognised fully the existence of a soul in man, forming indeed his proper nature—the absolute ego of Fichte—distinct from matter and immortal; but our latest philosophy, both here and in Germany, can see in man only a highly developed physical organisation. "All external things," says Kapila, "were formed that the soul might know itself and be free." "The study of psychology is vain," says Schopenhauer, "for there is no Psyche."