Bhagavad Gita — Synopsis

The Art of Living
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

Who wrote the Gita?
Spoken amidst the great war of Kurukshetra, the Bhagavad Gita is an eternal message of spiritual and philosophical wisdom. Bhagavad Gita, or the song of the Lord, was written by Sage Ved Vyasa. He was the one who compiled the Mahabharata which includes Gita.

How old is the Gita?
It is rather ambiguous to know when exactly the Gita was written. Modern historians argue that the Gita was written between 400 BCE to 200 BCE. According to the Hindu spirituality, the Gita was written in the Dwapar Yug, which would be somewhere between 3000–3100 BC, making the Gita around 5100 years old.

How long does it take to read the Gita?
The Gita is a compilation of 700 verses originally written in Sanskrit. Today it is available in different languages, different versions and different formats. If read continuously, in its original form, it should take not more than 2 hours. However, it best to read it with commentaries and explanations of the verses, which on the other hand, also becomes a time taking process. So the best way is to read a few verses everyday with the commentaries. An hour each day would not take you more than 30–45 days to finish all 18 chapters.

How many slokas are there in the Gita?
The Bhagavad Gita is written in 18 chapters consisting of 700 slokas. The Gita is also said to be a part of the great epic, Mahabharata which is a compilation of 1,00,000 slokas.

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