gupta of about the middle of the 8th century and therefore most
probably a senior contemporary of Sankara, has virtually remained in
the same form throughout. Though the latter contains considerable
variations and additional lines and stanzas, the basic structure, the
purport of the teaching and even the wording of the major and material
portion of the work remain unaffected by its discovery. The Jiana
karma-samuccaya doctrine which the Kasmirian commentators believed
to be the purport of the teaching of the Lord had been believed to be
so even by the Vattikara, a prior commentator whose views Sankara
fghts hard to refute. Manilal Nabhubhai in Gujrati and B. G. Tilak in
Marathi had brought it out as its true purport, even though unaware
of that recension. The Bhagavad girl is thus a land-mark in the history
of the Sanskrit language and the Indian philosophical literature. True,
this fact does not by itself solve any of the problems to which I have
alluded. It does, however, enhance the value of the work as a reliable
guide in their solution from other internal data evaluated in the light
of the other authoritative works on the principles of the various systems
discussed therein and this Word-Index will, 1 hope, render the task of
the collection of such data easier than it would otherwise have been.
It is also possible that it may suggest either some new problems or new
methods of approach to the old ones and render assistance in their
solution. If this work is found helpful in all or any of the above ways
I will have the satisfaction of having spent my time, energy and money
in a worthy.cause.
Santacruz, Bombay. P. C. DIVANJI. Dated 1st April 1943.*
- Some minor alterations and additions were made subsequently in this Introduction
in the light of new materials brought to my knowledge before it was Hent to the Preso
