Is the extant Geeta authentic?

Recently the education minister of the Government of India Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan stated
in a written reply in the parliament that Geeta will be included in the curriculum of the
schools by the National Council of Educational Research and Training. While participating in
the program of ISKCON to distribute 1,00,000 copies of Geeta, Mr Rajnath Singh, the defense
minister of Government of India also stated that there is need to incorporate the teachings
of Geeta in our lives.

All Hindu texts have been tampered with after their composition over periods of time
rendering them unreliable. Since like all other Hindu texts, Geeta also has been tampered
with over time the question is how to distinguish the real Geeta from the tampered Geeta.
How to distinguish the verses that formed the original Geeta from the verses which were
interpolated later? Are the interpolated verses also equally sacred and adorable? The
teachings of which verses, original or interpolated, should we incorporate in our lives,?

Swami Vivekanand wonders as to who was the real author of Geeta, Badarayana Vyasa or
Dvaipayana Vyasa? He feels that Geeta was practically unknown before Adi Shankara wrote
his commentary on it. He further says “Some infer that Shankaracharya was the author of
the Gita, and that it was he who foisted it into the body of the Mahabharata”. (The
Complete Works of Swami Vivekanand, Mayavati Memorial Edition, Vol. 4. Page 103). So,
was the entire Geeta an interpolation in Mahabharat?

Geeta is a part of the Bhishma Parva of Mahabharata. Today we find that there are 700
verses in the Geeta. Of them 574 are attributed to Krishna, 84 to Arjuna, 41 to Sanjay and 1
to Dhritarashtra. But chapter 43 of the same Bhishma Parva contains a verse which
mentions that the Geeta consists of 746 verses, 620 attributed to Krishna, 57 to Arjuna, 68
to Sanjay and 1 to Dhritarashtra. (ṣaṭ śatāni saviṁśāni ślokānāṁ prāha keśavaḥ, arjunaḥ
saptapañcāśat saptaṣaṣṭis tu saṁjayaḥ, dhr̥tarāṣṭraḥ ślokam ekaṁ gītāyā mānam ucyate). It
means that compared to the extant Geeta there is a deficit of 46 verses in the verses
attributed Krishna, and a deficit of 27 verses attributed to Sanjay and an addition of 27
verses attributed to Arjuna.

This verse is available in some manuscripts of Mahabharat but not in some others. For
example, while the verse is available in the Mahabharat published by the Geeta Press,
Gorakhpur, it is not to be found in the critical edition published by Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute, Pune, which has put the verse in ‘supplementary passages’. A dilemma
confronts. Whether the extant Geeta is a tampered text or the verse in chapter 43 is an
interpolation? Many questions arise. If the original Geeta consisted of 700 verses, why would
anyone interpolate a verse in chapter 43 of Mahabharat with a different number of verses
attributed to the dramatis personae of the Geeta?

Shankara wrote a commentary on the Geeta which has 700 verses. His is the only oldest
extant commentary on Geeta. It is said that Boudhayana had also written a commentary on
Geeta before Shankara did but is not available now. Two questions arise. Was Shankara not
aware of the Verse in chapter 43 of Mahabharat or was that verse interpolated in
Mahabharat after Shankara wrote his commentary?

Then how to find the original Geeta? How to find out as to what did the 46 verses that have
been deleted from Krishna’s attribution, stated? Is it not also possible that not 46 but more
verses were deleted from the verses attributed to Krishna, but some other verses were
added to bring the total verses attributed to Krishna to 620? This assumes importance as
though the same problems confront the verses attributed to Arjuna and Sanjay also, the
verses attributed to Krishna are said to be ‘teachings’ of Krishna, who the Geeta itself
reveals as a Supreme God.

One cannot find out as to what are the interpolated verses based on internal context and
internal contradictions. Pratap Chandra Roy, who edited a popular version of Mahabharat
more than a hundred years ago, says that the interpolated verses have been interpolated
very cleverly to make them almost impossible to perceive.

It needs to be noted that though it is claimed that the verses attributed to Krishna in the
Geeta are the words of God, they were ‘related’ by Sanjay to Dhritarashtra and there is no
guarantee that Sanjay might have made mistakes in relating the verses. Factually the
verses were composed by Vyasa but are supposed to have been reduced to ‘writing’ by
Ganesh and there is no guarantee that Ganesh might have made mistakes in transcribing
the verses.

Another question is that since the Hindus proudly say that their texts were preserved not
only by reducing them into writing but also by using mnemonic techniques. Was Mahabharat
including Geeta or at least was Geeta preserved using the mnemonic technique and if yes,
how many people had committed them to their memories and over which geographical
spread? How could such people’s memories be tampered by interpolating and deleting
verses?

Does the principle of the game Chinese Whispers where a message when passed through
several people in a chain gets changed by the time it reaches the end of the chain apply to
the passing of Hindu texts from teachers to disciples through mnemonic techniques? If it
does, then what is the guarantee that the text of the Geeta extant today is the exact copy of
the original? If deliberate interpolation and deletion of verses from texts destroy their
reliability and authenticity of the written texts, the curse of the Chinese Whispers destroys
the reliability and authenticity of the mnemonic texts.

Interestingly after the battle is over and Yudhishthira is performing the horse sacrifice,
Arjuna tells Krishna that he had forgotten what Krishna had told him on the battlefield and
asks Krishna to repeat the Geeta. Krishna says that he could not do so. ( sa hi dharmaH
suparyApto brahmaNaH padavedane | na shakyaM tanmayA bhUyastathA vaktumasheShataH) Well if
the propounder of Geeta himself could not remember it, how to verify the authenticity of the
extant Geeta?

Who could have tampered with Geeta and why? Since the number of verses attributed to
Arjuna has certainly increased and it is also possible that some of the verses attributed to
others also might have been deleted and new verses added, such a thing could have been
done only by persons knowing Sanskrit and having possession of the manuscripts.
Mahabharat itself refers to tempering with texts and so does Manu. Verses 9 and 10 of the
Shanti Parva of Mahabharat say that though there was no place for wine, fish and meat etc.,
in the sacrifices, some wicked persons added them due to their own proclivities for them.
*[Link] madhu surA matsyA AsavaM kRRisaraudanam | dhUrtaiH pravartitaM
hyetannaitadvedeShu kalpitam || kAmAnmohAchcha lobhAchcha laulyametatpravartitam |
viShNumevAbhijAnanti sarvayaj~neShu brAhmaNAH) In Verse 9.66 Manu refers to the
practice of widow re-marriage and says that “This practice which is reprehended by the
learned of the twice-born castes as fit for cattle is said (to have occurred) even among men,
while Vena ruled”.

The important question is whether one should take such tampered text as the ‘word’ of God?
Should we incorporate in our lives the practices interpolated in the texts by such
unscrupulous persons? Does not what Dayanand Sarasvati had said about
Ramacharitamanas of Tulsidas that “As even the best food mixed with poison is to be
avoided” apply to Geeta also?