This book brings out all the fourteen unexplored Gitas besides the Bhagavad-Gita and the Anugita in the Mahabharata and ten Gitas in the Puranas to the forefront for the sake of researchers in the field of the Bhagavad-Gita. The Gitas in the Mahabharata on the whole differ from those in the Puranas in form and character. There seems to be no set pattern for the Gita in the Mahabharata whereas the later Puranas seems to have added a Gita resembling the Bhagavad-Gita in all its aspects to enhance its value. The theme of the Gitas in the Mahabharata differs while the theme of the Gitas in the later Puranas in mainly on Religio-Philosophy. Ana analytical and critical study of all these Gitas reveal the difference in the Philosophical thought in the Mahabharata and the later Puranas. Puranic Gitas reveal the impact of the religious movement which was growing during those days. The aim of the Gitas on the whole is to portray one God head as the Supreme and to reveal that all the paths-Karma, Jnana, Bhakti and yoga are equally important and these different paths are intended to suit the motions and character of different categories of people.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ratnam Nilakantan
She was a keen student of Sanskrit from her early days which motivated her to take to Sanskrit studies for her graduation from biological sciences. She was a student of Annamalai University for her post-graduation and secured the first position. She took her research degree M. Litt. From the same University. Before she joined the Delhi University for her PhD in 1961 she was working as Assistant Professor in Presidency College, Madras. From 1976 she has been an academic member of the Delhi University and at present she is working as a reader in Kalindi College under Delhi University. She has been deeply interested in the study of the Bhagavad-Gita which has inspired her to take up a project entitled Bibliography of the Bhagavad-Gita as a post-doctoral research work. This work will cover all the official languages of India in part I and Part II will cover all the other foreign languages of when completed. It is expected that the first section of Part I covering English language will be published soon. The author has been participating in many national conferences and contributed many articles in different journals and has read papers in conferences and seminars. She is specially interested in language teaching and she has been taking active part in teaching Sanskrit through conversation and making it easy for the learners.
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