duction to be introduced
here in its entirety; but the following extracts give the chief
features of the work, than which nothing in Hindu literature is more
characteristic, in its sublimity as in its puerilities, in its logic
as in its want of it. It has shared the fate of most Hindu works in
being interpolated injudiciously, so that many of the puzzling
anomalies, which astound no less the reader than the hero to whom it
was revealed, are probably later additions. It is a medley of beliefs
as to the relation of spirit and matter, and other secondary matters;
it is uncertain in its tone in regard to the comparative efficacy of
action and inaction, and in regard to the practical man's means of
salvation; but it is at one with itself in its fundamental thesis,
that all things are each a part of One Lord, that men and gods are but
manifestations of the One Divine Spirit, which, or rather whom, the
Vishnuite re-writer identifies with Krishna, as Vishnu's present form.

The Divine Song, as it is revealed in the epic by Vishnu (-Krishna) to
his favorite knight, Arjuna, begins thus: "Know that the 'That' in
which is comprised the 'This' is indestructible. These bodies of the
indestructible Eternal One have an end: but whoso knows Him as slayer,
and whoso thinks Him to be slain, these two have not true wisdom. He
slays not and is not slain. He is not born, he does not die at any
time; nor will He, having been born, cease to be. Unborn, everlasting,
eternal, He, the Ancient One, is not slain when the body is slain. As
one puts away an old garment and puts on another that is new, so He,
the embodied (Spirit), puts away the old body and assumes one that is
new. Everlasting, omnipresent, firm, unchanging is He, the Eternal;
indiscernible is He called, inconceivable, unchangeable."[4]

The Song now turns into a plea that the warrior who is hearing it
should, as one born to be a soldier, be brave and fight, lest his
sorrow for the slain be taken for fear; since "nothing is better for a
warrior than a just fight," and "loss of fame is worse than death."
Then follows (with the usual inconsequential 'heaven') "If thou art
slain thou wilt obtain heaven, and if thou art victorious thou shalt
enjoy earth; therefore, careless of pleasure and pain, get ready for
the fight, and so thou wilt not incur sin. This is the knowledge
declared in the S[=a]nkhya; hear now that of the Yoga," and the Divine
Lord proceeds:

"Some are pleased with Ved