Book Title: Bhagvad Gita Rahasya or Karmayoga Shastra VOL 02
Author(s): Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhalchandra S Sukhtankar
Publisher: R B Tilak Puna
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PROMINENT PERSONALITIES ON THE GITĀ ETC. xxxix
roughly, as shown by Tilak from an astronomical statement in it, the 'Gita' must be placed between 1900 B. C. and 500 B. C. This is a wide range, no doubt; but it supplies one with limits, which are certain and unassailable.
There are a few arguments which will give us a more definite approximation to the probable date. It has been rightly shown by some scholars that the 'Gītā' is not only preBuddhistic but pre-Pāninian. Many forms in it are against Panini's rules. More interesting still is ( ATHTAT ATTENTSE) as the month names are modern and not Vedic names, new names being introduced about 2,000 B. C. according to Shanker Balkrishna Dikshit. But, according to Vedānga Jyotisa, the first month is Māgha, and hence the 'Gitā' seems to be prior to the Vedānga Jyotisa' also, the date of which is about 1190 B. C. even according to the calculation of Archbishop Pratt, who worked the date out for Max Müller. Dikshit takes its date to be about 1400 B. C. It may thus be taken without much difficulty that 1400 B. C. is the probable date of the Gītā.
Another sentence furnishes a further argument in favour of this date. It may be accepted that Sri Krsna was already considered a divine being, indeed as an incarnation of the Highest Deity at the time of the Gitā; but not probably Arjuna. Yet, when Sri Krsna says ('वृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽस्मि पाण्डवानां धनञ्जयः',), he lays the foundation of Arjuna-worship. From Pāṇini's Sūtra ('atecaIETE'), we are sure that during Pānini's time both Vāsudeva and Arjuna were worshipped, though Arjuna lost his position later on. Gitā is therefore pre-Pāṇinian undoubtedly. If we take the date of Pānini to be about 800 B. C., as most Indians Scholars do, though Europeans scholars place him about 300 B. C., we may take, the Gītā to about 1200 B. C. or at least to 1,000 B. C. When we further remember that Śrī Krsna identifies Himself with Mārgaśīrsa as being the first of months, as in other things, we can take the Gītā still further back, i. e., about 1,400 B. C., before the latest possible date for Vedānga Jyotisa.
The exact age of the Gita is, no doubt difficult to determine for want of detailed knowledge of the political, social and religious history of India, before Buddha. The
