THE BHAGAVAD GITA: THE GOSPEL OF INDIA

The course is a basic subject in the Bachelor degree of Ancient Civilizations for the Contemporary World, and belongs to the historico-religious area. In line with the objectives of the Bachelor degree, the aim of the course is to provide the students with a substantial knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita (2nd century BCE – 1st century CE), undoubtedly the most famous of all Indian scriptures and the center of the great Mahabharata epic. Through a critical reading of the eighteen chapters of the poem, students will learn the fundamental religious and philosophical presuppositions and goals of India’s civilization and mainstream Hinduism. In a comparative perspective, the course is thought as a contribution to the dialogue between India and the West by clarifying its historical and hermeneutical conditions.

1. Knowledge and understanding: By the end of the course, students will have acquired the basic tools for the analysis of an Indian religious text (its methods, technical terms, commentarial tradition, etc.) along with the knowledge of the theology of Indian epic and more broadly the key concepts of Indian philosophies and religions; 2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: ability to analyze an ancient Indian text by situating it within its historical context; use of proper terminology; ability to gather, select and evaluate contemporary scholarship on the topic; 3. Making judgments: analyzing and discussing the various issues involved with critical acumen; contextualizing the poem’s theology within its specific cultural milieu; appreciation of how this text has become a classic of Hinduism and of the shifts in interpretation that have characterized its commentarial tradition over the centuries and up to the present, in India as well as in the West; 4. Communication skills: a clear exposition and communication of the acquired knowledge in both oral and written form; 5. Learning skills: understanding of an ancient Indian text by focussing on its English translations; ability to develop one’s own critical interpretation of the text and its essential teachings.

There are no prerequisites for being admitted to the course.

The course (40 hours = 6 ECTS) offers an introduction to the basic philosophical and religious ideas of Indian civilization through an examination of the Bhagavad Gita, universally regarded as one of the world’s spiritual and literary masterpieces and as the ‘Gospel’ of India. The text opens on the eve of a mighty battle, when the warrior Arjuna is overwhelmed by despair and refuses to fight. He then turns to his charioteer, the god Krishna, who counsels him on why he must. In the dialogue that follows, Arjuna receives a series of teachings that are revealing of the core of India’s spirituality, past and present. In class we will be looking at these teachings through select readings of the poem in English translation. We will consider how its seven hundred verses have been interpreted by the commentarial tradition across the centuries, also taking into accout the Bhagavad Gita’s iconography, and will examine how the poem eventually found its way to the West, where it was read and appreciated by people such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), Aldous Huxley (1894-1962) and Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967). We shall also be looking at Indian nationalists like the ‘Mahatma’ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) and religious leaders like Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), so as to appreciate how they interpreted the message of the Bhagavad Gita in their fight against British colonial rule.

1. R. H. Davis, The Bhagavad Gita: A Biography (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014).
2. I. Theodor, The Bhagavad-Gītā: A Critical Introduction (London and New York: Routledge, 2021).
3. W. Sargeant, trans. The Bhagavad Gītā. Twenty-fifth-Anniversary Edition. Edited and with a Preface by Christopher Key Chapple. Foreword by Huston Smith (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009).
4. F. Edgerton, trans. The Bhagavad Gītā (New York: Harper Torchbooks - The Cloister Library, 1964; Harvard University Press, 1944).
5. J. Mascaro, trans. The Bhagavad Gita (London: Penguin, 2010).
6. W. Halbfass, India and Europe: An Essay in Philosophical Understanding (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990).

An oral exam and the writing of a paper on an agreed subject-matter. Top grade is 30/30 ‘cum laude’ (lowest grade: 18/30). The exam will focus on what has been presented and discussed in class and on the reading assignments. It aims to verify the knowledge of the fundamental issues that have been tackled throughout the course; the ability to place the Bhagavad Gita in its proper historical and theological context and to account for the history of its interpretation across time up to its reception in the Western world; the ability to present (in English) the course’s contents clearly and in detail, coupled with one’s own critical understanding of the subject-matter.
International or Erasmus incoming students are kindly requested to contact the teacher of the course beforehand. Students with disabilities should also contact the teacher of the course beforehand in order to discuss alternative examination methods, in agreement with the competent Office.

An oral exam and the writing of a paper on an agreed subject-matter.

English

written and oral