Hegel and the Latin Bhagavadgītā (1823): A Critique of Understanding and Translating the Foreign

Abstract

In 1823, August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767–1845), the German Romantic translator and literary critic, translated the 700-verse, sacred philosophical poem Bhagavadgītā (the Gītā) from Sanskrit into Latin (Schlegel 1823). The most well-known Hindu text in the west, the Bhagavadgītā is divided in 18 cantos as part of Mahabharata, one of the two greatest epics of ancient India. Dated from the first few centuries BCE, and traditionally ascribed to the sage Ved Vyasa, the Gītā is set in a narrative framework of a dialogue between Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna, who is no other than God Vishnu in his eighth human incarnation.¹ The dialogue takes place just as the epic battle between the two kinships (Kauravas and Pandavas) is about to start. Looking at the vast expanse of the army, including his friends, cousins, and teachers, Arjuna has doubts about his moral right to carry on with the impending battle where he is to kill his relations. The Gītā is Krishna’s response to Arjuna’s doubts, where he exhorts him to stop hesitating and fulfil his mission as a warrior.