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15. GITA
in the Bali version, verses written by Vyasa, which is consistent in basic theme with Kapila's Samkhya Darshan (700 BC) and Patanjali's Yoga sutra (400 BC). The Bhagavagita of the modern form is, in his angle, intentionally constructed by Brahmins in the period of 800 AD. It borrowed themes of monotheism, hell, heaven, sin and salvation themes from Christanity and Islam.
The Gita As It Was: Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita
by Phulgenda Sinha
The corruption of the original Gita was due to the convergence of several conditions, both internal and external. Externally, three great religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--all believing in the concept of one Almighty God, were well established in the Middle East, with which India had extensive trade relationships through the port of Alexandria. By250 A.D., Indian merchants had established colonies in Alexandria, which provided a meeting ground for Indian scholars, who could exchange philosophical ideas with the preachers, teachers, and missionaries of the new faiths. Thus, some Indians, mostly from the South, had become acquainted with the doctrines of these organized religions centuries before the actual revision of the Gita took place.
Second, it is claimed that the Syrian Christian Sect in Kerala was founded by Saint Thomas, who was martyred at Mylapore, a suburb of Madras, in 68 A.D. Further, by the middle of the fourth century, the persecuted Persian Christians had set up their colonies on the Malabar Coast. It is obvious that the philosophy of monotheism had made its entry into India, in some limited but concrete form, long before it was accepted and introduced through the Bhagavadgita in about 800 A.D.
Among the external factors, the most conspicuous and dominating appears to be the Islamic invasions and their subsequent conquest of Sind (then the western part of India and now in Pakistan) during the early part of the eighth century. After the death of Muhammad (570-632) the Arabs,.......
Reworking the original Gita to form the Bhagavadgita was not merely the modification of a book. It was a surreptitious plot to dismantle the whole intellectual edifice of Indian culture which had been built up over a thousand years. The changers not only stopped the tide of rationalism in Indian life but also seduced people into believing and accepting the false as genuine, alien as indigenous, religious as political, and mystical as rational. The consequences were deep, all-encompassing, and bewildering. India, indeed, was pushed into a 'dark age'.
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