Bhagavad Gita by Vyasa. AFRO ASIAN LITERATURE

The Bhagavad Gita is set in a narrative framework of dialogue between the
PandavaPrinceArjunaand his charioteer guide Krishna, an avatar of lord Vishnu.At the start of the KurukshetraWar between the Pandavasand the Kauravas,Arjunadespairs
thinking about the violence and death the war will cause in the battle against his kin and becomes emotionally preoccupied with a dilemma. Wondering if he should renounce the war,Arjunaseeks the counsel of Krishna, whose answers and discourse constitute the
Bhagavad Gita. Krishna counselsArjunato "fulfil his Kshatriya (warrior) duty" for the
upholdmentof dharma. The Krishna–Arjunadialogue covers a broad range of spiritual
topics, touching upon moral and ethical dilemmas, and philosophical issues that go far
beyond the war thatArjunafaces. The setting of the text in a battlefield has been
interpreted as an allegory for the struggles of human life.

1. Bhagavad Gita
by Vyasa

2. The Bhagavad Gita often referred to as the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture,
which is part of the epic Mahabharata. It forms the chapters 23–40 of book 6 of the
Mahabharata called the BhishmaParva. The work is dated to the second half of the first
millennium BCE. Typical of the Hindu synthesis, it is considered one of the holy
scriptures of Hinduism.
The Bhagavad Gita is set in a narrative framework of dialogue between the
PandavaPrince Arjunaand his charioteer guide Krishna, an avatar of lord Vishnu. At the
start of the KurukshetraWar between the Pandavasand the Kauravas, Arjunadespairs
thinking about the violence and death the war will cause in the battle against his kin and
becomes emotionally preoccupied with a dilemma. Wondering if he should renounce the
war, Arjunaseeks the counsel of Krishna, whose answers and discourse constitute the
Bhagavad Gita. Krishna counsels Arjunato "fulfil his Kshatriya (warrior) duty" for the
upholdmentof dharma. The Krishna–Arjunadialogue covers a broad range of spiritual
topics, touching upon moral and ethical dilemmas, and philosophical issues that go far
beyond the war that Arjunafaces. The setting of the text in a battlefield has been
interpreted as an allegory for the struggles of human life.

3. -The Bhagavad Gita encourages us to live life with purity, strength, discipline,
honesty, kindness and integrity. In this way we can find our purpose and live it fully.
-The Bhagavad Gita is not a religious bookand is not intended to be read and
acted upon by the adherents of a particular religion. It’s a guidebook for life; a how-
to manual. It is a medicine for the infected souls of the Kali-Yuga, the dark age. And
there is no religion in medicine.
What is the main message of the Bhagavad Gita?
The Bhagwad Gita tells us that each one of us should do our duty without
expecting rewards. It also says that the path of devotion to God is open to all.
What are the important lessons of life from Bhagavad Gita?
Fear of death and worry kills' ambition and chances of progress diminish. Be
fearless body dies and not the soul. You must strive to eradicate the fear from your
mind. Fear is a deterrent to your well-being.

4. •Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 -7 August
1941) was a Bengali poet of India. He was also a
philosopher and an artist. He wrote many stories,
novels, poems and dramas, as well as composing
music.
•Popularly known as "Gurudev."
•Best known for being the first non-European to
be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913
with his book Gitanjali, Song Offerings.
•He was highly influential in introducing Indian
culture to the West and is generally regarded as
the outstanding creative artist of modern India.
Rabindranath Tagore

5. •Tagore was born in the city of Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta).
•He was the youngest of his parents' 14 children. His father was
Debendranath Tagore; his mother was Sarada Devi.
•He wrote his first poem when he was only eight years old. In
1877, when he was 16, Tagore published his first large poetry
collection. Also when he was 16, he wrote his first short story and
dramas.
•But in 1880, after Tagore did not do well in school, his father
called him back from London. His father arranged a marriage for
him with Mrinalini Devi, a girl who was just ten years old. They
got married on 9 December 1883. Together they had five
children, but two died during childhood.

6. •Tagore also wrote many non-fiction books. These covered many
subjects, including the history of India, linguistics, essays and lectures,
details of his travels, and other autobiographical things.
•He wrote around 2,230 songs. People call these songs "Rabindra
Sangeet” which means "Tagore Song" in English.
•His songs and music cover many aspects of human emotion, from
devotional hymns to songs of love.
Cause of death:Bacterial infection of the kidney.
Works

7. Tagore’s first poem, Abhilasha (Desire), was published
anonymously in the journal "Tattvabodhini Patrika." Tattwabodhini
("truth-searching") Patrika("newspaper")] was established by
Maharshi Devendranath Tagoreon 16 August 1843, as a journal of
the Tattwabodhini Sabha, and continued publication until 1883. It
was published in Kolkata, India.
Abhilasha means a wish or a desireto want and achive
something in life.
Abhilaash (Hindi for Desire)

8. •Gitanjali ( ''Song offering'') is a collection of poemsby the Bengali poet
Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature, for its
English translation, Song Offerings, making him the first non-European to
receive this honour.
•For “Gitanjali” literally means “song offerings,” and the poems are suggestive
of harmony, beauty and relationality at the least. Tagore, employing 12,091
words and a lexicon with slightly fewer than 2,468 word types,1 renders in
English what he had composed originally in Bengali for singing. The
collection, consisting of 103 poems composed before 1910, translated in
1912 and published in 1913, won for him the Nobel Prize the very year of its
publication. Neuroscience was still in its infancy then.
Gitanjali(NOVEMBER 15, 2013)

9. Gitanjali has two (2) aspects: Firstly, most of these songs are written as conversations
between the poet and God. Sometimes the words of God remained unuttered, yet
the poet speaks of his prayers and feelings. On the other hand, apart from some
personal prayers, some songs also addressed to the Bharatvidhata—the God of India.
The songs of Gitanjali have a deep connection with nature. These songs are mostly
written in the context of monsoon, autumn or spring. When nature brings her assets
to us by decorating our surroundings with new pictures, new lights and new fruits and
flowers, it makes us new & pure for devoting ourselves to God.
Its hundred and odd lyrics explore (1) the relationship of God and the human soul; (2)
of God and Nature; (3) of Nature and the human soul, and; (4) of the individual soul
and humanity. These four themes are not kept strictly separate, they frequently run
into each other, fuse and mingle.

11. (Shakuntala and the Ring of Recollection)
-a poetic drama, tells the story of a love affair between a king and a woodland maiden
Shakuntala.
-a universal drama of the passion, separation, suffering and reunion of lovers.
•The Sakuntala of Kalidas has been regarded as the greatest of all the classical Sanskrit
dramas.
•It is said that when Sir William Jones translated 'Sakuntala' of Kalidas into English and
published it in 1789, it created a sensation among the Europeans that such a wonderful
drama could have been written in ancient times, describing human emotion and feeling
in such a super way.
•The work was translated to German, French, Danish, Italian and other languages.
•The celebrated German poet Goethe was so powerfully impressed by this magnificent
work that he regarded it as the greatest drama ever written in any literature.
Shakuntala

12. Meghaduta
(The Cloud Messenger)
-Lyric poem about separated
lovers.
-Meghaduta, (Sanskrit: “Cloud
Messenger”) lyric love poem in
some 115 versescomposed by
Kalidasa about the 5th century
CE. The verse is unique to
Sanskrit literature in that the
poet attempts to go beyond the
strophic unity of the short lyric,
normally the form preferred for
love poems, by stringing the
stanzas into a narrative. This
innovation did not take hold,
though the poem inspired
imitations along precisely the
same story line.

13. •Meghaduta is a lyric poemwritten by Kalidasa, regarded as one of the best Sanskrit poets.
•It tells the story of a Yaksa(or nature spirit) who was banished by his master to a faraway
place for a year and begged a cloud to deliver a message of love to his wife.
•The poem became well-known in Sanskrit literature and inspired other poets to produce
comparable poems (known as "messenger-poems," or Sandesha Kavya) on similar subjects.
•The Meghaduta is the lament of an exiled yaksha (a beneficent nature spirit) on a lonely
mountain summit, grieving for his sweetheart.
•When a cloud perches on the top at the start of a monsoon, he asks it to carry a message to
his love in the Himalayan area of Alaka.
•The majority of the poem, written in an exceptionally elegant rhythm, is a description of the
landmarks, cities, and vistas encountered on the cloud's voyage to Alaka.
•Meghaduta was the inspiration for Friedrich Schiller's play Maria Stuart.
•The quantity of commentaries made on the work might indicate its prominence within the
genre of Sanskrit classical literature as a khandakavya (short lyrical poetry as opposed to a
Mahakavya, which is an epic poem).