Reading the Bhagavad Gita in translation

The Bhagavad Gita is about 700 Sanskrit verses in 18 chapters, set inside the Mahabharata on the morning of the Kurukshetra war. Arjuna, facing his own relatives across the battlefield, puts down his bow. Krishna, his charioteer, answers him, and the conversation covers duty, action without attachment, knowledge, devotion and the nature of the self.

Almost nobody reads it in Sanskrit first. The real choice is which translation, and whether you want it plain, poetic or wrapped in commentary. This guide sorts the options into free versions you can read today and modern ones worth buying or borrowing.

What kind of translation do you want?

Translations of the Gita fall into three rough groups.

Literal translations try to follow the Sanskrit closely, verse by verse. They can feel stiff, but you know what the text says.

Literary translations try to make the Gita read well in English. Verse translations belong here. They are pleasant and quick but sometimes add or smooth over ideas.

Commentary editions give each verse with a long explanation from a particular teacher or school. They tell you how one tradition reads the Gita, which is valuable once you know the text and confusing if it is your only source.

For a first reading, pick a literary or literal version without heavy commentary. Read the whole thing once, then go back to a commentary edition if you want depth.

Free English translations

These were published long ago, and their translators died long ago, so they are public domain in India and in the United States.

Arnold's Song Celestial is the easiest to read straight through. It is loose in places but reads well aloud, and Gandhi wrote that it was the first version of the Gita he read, as a student in London. Project Gutenberg has a clean text. Telang's version is closer to the Sanskrit and comes with a useful introduction; the Internet Archive has scans of the Sacred Books of the East volume.

Gandhi's own reading of the Gita, Anasaktiyoga, was written in Gujarati and translated into English by Mahadev Desai as The Gospel of Selfless Action (1946). Gandhi died in 1948 and Desai in 1942, so in India this is now public domain as well. Check the edition you find, since later editors may have added material.

Modern English translations

These are in copyright. They are widely available in bookshops and libraries, often cheaply.

• Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood (1944): short, readable, mixing prose and verse.
• Juan Mascaro (Penguin Classics, 1962): lyrical and popular for decades.
• Eknath Easwaran (1985): clear modern English with helpful chapter introductions.
• Barbara Stoler Miller (1986): a scholar's version that stays close to the Sanskrit and still reads well.
• Laurie L. Patton (Penguin Classics, 2008): close to the original, with good notes.

Any of these is a fine first reading. Easwaran and Mascaro suit readers who want something gentle; Miller and Patton suit readers who care about accuracy.

In Hindi and Marathi

Hindi readers have many inexpensive printed editions with the Sanskrit verse, a word-by-word gloss and a Hindi meaning. The Gita Press of Gorakhpur is the best-known publisher of these. Buying a printed copy is the simplest route.

Marathi has something special: the Dnyaneshwari, Sant Dnyaneshwar's 13th-century commentary on the Gita in Marathi verse. It is not a translation in the modern sense. It expands each verse with images from village life and nature, and it is one of the great books of Marathi literature. The text is centuries old and free; modern prose renderings are usually in copyright. Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Gita Rahasya (1915), a Marathi study written during his imprisonment at Mandalay, reads the Gita as a call to action. Tilak died in 1920, so his original is public domain in India.

A reading plan

The 18 chapters fall into three groups of six, a division many commentators use.

1. Chapters 1 to 6 set the scene and deal mostly with action and duty. Chapter 2, where Krishna's teaching begins, is the most quoted.
2. Chapters 7 to 12 turn to knowledge of God and devotion. Chapter 11, Arjuna's vision of Krishna's cosmic form, is the dramatic high point. Chapter 12, on devotion, is short and much loved.
3. Chapters 13 to 18 discuss the self, nature and the qualities (gunas), and end with a summary in chapter 18.

One chapter a day takes under three weeks. If you only have an evening, read chapters 1, 2, 11, 12 and 18. That gives you the setting, the core teaching, the vision, devotion and the conclusion.

Read slowly and expect repetition. The Gita returns to the same few ideas from different angles, and that is part of how it teaches.

A note on choosing editions

When you buy or download a Gita, check who translated it and when. Many cheap modern editions reuse a public-domain translation, such as Arnold or Besant, without saying so. That is legal, but it means you could pay for a text that is free elsewhere. Our guide to public domain in India explains how to check a translator's dates.