Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita

English Translation and Commentary by

Swami Swarupananda

[1909]

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This is an early 20th century translation of the Bhagavad Gita into readable modern English prose. Because it is a fairly close translation, the line numbering will correspond closely to the Sanskrit text. The original book includes the Sanskrit text, but could not be incorporated into this etext for technical reasons.

There is some debate over whether this was actually written by Sister Nivedita (Margaret Noble), and published under Swarupananda's byline for unknown reasons. It has been claimed that publishing a Gita translation by a woman or a foreigner would have been seen as inappropriate. However, Nivedita published numerous books openly under her own name during this period. There are numerous English translations of the Gita by Hindus and non-Hindus from this period, published both in India and abroad. So neither of these explanations fit.