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I-THE-GĪTA AND THE MAHABHARATA
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going back to Dvārakā; and also that it was shown by Nārāyana to Nārada, and by Dāśarathi Rāma to Parasurāma. (U. 130; Aśva. 55; Sān. 339; Vana. 99). It is true that the description of the Cosmic Form given in the Gitā, is more detailed and beautiful than the descriptions in all these four places; but considering the matter from the point of view of similarity of subject, there is nothing new in the description in the Gitā, as will be clearly seen by anybody who reads these various descriptions. There are to be found descriptions in the Anugitā (Ašva. 36-39), and also in other places in the Sāntiparva (Sān. 285; and 300-311) as to how diversity comes into being in the world as a result of the sattva, rajas, and tamas constituents, what the characteristic features of these constituents are, and how all the activity is of these constituents and not of the Atman, which are similar to the descriptions in the 14th and 15th chapters of the Gitā. In short, although the description of certain things given in the Gitā may be more exhaustive, having regard to the occasion where it appears in the Gītā, and although the arrangement of those various subjects may also be different in the Gītā, yet, we come across ideas in the Mahābhārata which are more or less the same as those in the Gitā, but are spread out in some place or other; and I need not say that with this similarity of ideas, there is also to some extent a similarity of diction. The similarity in the matter of the month of Mārgaśīrsa is indeed astounding. As this month has been given primary importance in the Gītā, as is shown by the words " mūsānām mārgaśirso 'ham" (GI. 10. 35), so also, where there was twice occasion to mention the names of months with reference to fasting in the Anušāsanaparva of the Mahābhārata, the counting of the months has been started with Märgaśīrsa (Anu. 106 and 109). The ideas of Self-Identification, or of universal good, as also the difference between the Materialistic, Intuitionist, and Metaphysical aspects, and the description of the Devayāna and the Pitryāna paths taken after death, which appear in the Gītā, have also appeared several times in the Mahābhārata; but as this has been dealt with in great detail in the previous chapters, I shall not repeat the same subject-matter here.
