Mahatma Gandhi is well known for offering an allegorical interpretation of the Bhagavadgītā, whereas the more usual understanding of it in Hindu circles tends to be literal. This raises the question: what factors led Mahatma Gandhi to espouse an allegorical interpretation of the Bhagavadgītā? This paper concludes that Mahatma Gandhi preferred an allegorical interpretation on the basis of what he considered the "internal evidence" provided by the Mahā bhārata and the Bhagavadgītā and not under the influence of general exegetical trends, historical or contemporary, or of Arnold's translation or Theosophical, Jaina and Christian teachings or on account of his commitment to ahimsā.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Arnold, Edwin1888The Song Celestial. Boston, MA : Roberts Brothers.
2.
Bharati, Agehananda1970 "The Hindu Renaissance and its apologetic patterns ." The Journal of Asian Studies29, 2: 267-87.
3.
Basham, A. L., ed. 1975A Cultural History of India. Oxford: Clarendon.
4.
Besant, Annie1904The Bhagavadgita. London: Theosophical Publishing Society. 1906Hints on the Study of the Bhagavadgita. London: Theosophical Publishing Society.
5.
Blavatsky, H.P.1889The Key to Theosophy. London : Theosophical Publishing Society.
6.
Chatterjee, Margaret1983Gandhi's Religious Thought. London: Macmillan.
7.
Desai, Mahadev1957The Gita according to Gandhi. Ahmedabad : Navajivan.
8.
Durant, Will1930The Case for India. New York : Simon & Schuster.
9.
Elder, Joseph W., ed. 1970Chapters in Indian Civilization. Vol. 1. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
10.
Embree, Ainslie T., ed. 1972The Hindu Tradition. New York: Random House.
11.
Erikson, Erik H.1969Gandhi's Truth. New York: W. W. Norton.
12.
Gandhi, M.K.1958- The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. Vols. 1-99 . Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India.
13.
1950Hindu Dharma. Edited by Bharatan Kumarappa, Ahmedabad: Navajivan .
14.
1948An Autobiography or the Story of my Experiments with Truth . Ahmedabad: Navajivan.
15.
Herman, A.L.1973The Bhagavad Gītā: A Translation and Critical Commentary. Springfield, IL: Charlets C. Thomas.
16.
Hill, W.Douglas P.1928The Bhagavadgītā. London : Oxford University Press.
17.
Jaini, Padmanabh S.1979The Jaina Path of Purification. Berkeley : University of California Press.
18.
Jordens, J.T.F.1986 " Gandhi and the Bhagavadgītā" In Robert Minor, ed., Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavadgītā , 88-109. Albany, NY : State University of New York Press.
19.
Kājī, Chhaganlal G.1909Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita: An Exposition. Rajkot.
20.
Majumdar, R. C., ed. 1968The Age of Imperial Unity. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan .
21.
Minor, Robert N.1982Bhagavad-Gītā: An Exegetical Commentary . New Delhi: Heritage Publishers .
22.
Minor, Robert N., ed. 1986Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavadgītā. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
23.
Muni, Jina Vinaya, ed. 1946The Jains in the Study of Indian Literature. Written by Dr. Maurice Winternitz . Ahmedabad: Jaina Sahitya Samshodhaka Pratisthan.
