ABSTRACT
The Bhagavad Gita opens on a field of battle where a most decisive engagement is about to begin. Two great armies have assembled to decide once and for all who will rule the North Indian kingdom of Bharata. The driver of the chariot is none other than Krishna, an incarnation of the divine Vishnu. The name Bhagavad Gita literally means "Song of the Lord". The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are the two great epics of Hindu culture. The Mahabharata is a vast work; it seems that everything that makes up the culture of India is somehow included in it. The Bhagavad Gita, then, is a small but key part of a much larger work, the Mahabharata. Throughout the centuries, some scholars have argued that the Mahabharata is meant to be understood in a literal sense, that the battle imagery is just that and nothing else and that Krishna is indeed urging Arjuna to fight and kill the enemy.
