Abstract

Shakespeare has never claimed to have read the Bhagavad Gita. But one who is well-versed in the Gita and Shakespeare, is amazed to find striking similarities in both. The reintegration of the oriental knowledge of the Gita in the light of the occidental wisdom of Shakespeare suits our present-day needs, leading to the resuscitation of its fundamental values in their pristine vigour. The Gita is a part of the Mahabharata, the longest epic in the world, composed by Rishi Ved Vyasa. So without understanding the Mahabharata, the greatest tale ever of ambition, greed, jealousy, malice, treachery, revenge and blood-shed, one cannot fully comprehend either the Gita, which is set against the grand Kurukshetra war, or the Shakespearean philosophy of life and soul embodied in his whole oeuvre. This common pool of literature enables the reader, eastern or western, to understand and appreciate currents of world thought, as also the movements of the mind in India, which, though they flow through different linguistic channels, have a common urge and aspiration, i.e. peace, love and liberation.

Description