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In Bhagvad Gita most of the slokas are in Anushtup chhandas (except a few which are in Trishtup chhandas)..

i.e., each verse of Gita consisting exactly of 32 letters, arranged in 4 quarters in a specific pattern of Laghus and Gurus..(except for a few verses in Trishtup meter.)

During the real verbal discussions of Bhagvad Gita did Lord Krishna and Arjun actually speak this way in direct speech? (32 letters arranged in 4 quarters with specific arrangement of Laghu and Guru syllables ?)


OR, did Sage Veda Vyas re-format their conversation in Anushtup meter for the purpose of indirect narration or record of Mahabharat ?

ie, I mean to ask if delivered words of Lord Krishna and Arjun actually verbatim ? or did Veda Vyas convert their dialogue into such a poetic meter?

For chandas information here is a rule for Anushtup meter

अनुष्टुप्छन्दसि चत्वारः पादाः भवन्ति प्रत्येकपादे च अष्ट > अक्षराणि।श्लोके षष्ठं गुरु ज्ञेयं सर्वत्र लघु पञ्चमम्।
द्विचतुष्पादयोर्ह्रस्वं सप्तमं दीर्घमन्ययोः॥
अस्य छन्दसः षष्ठम् अक्षरं गुरु पञ्चमम् च लघु। सप्तमम् अक्षरं प्रथमे तृतीये च पादे गुरु, द्विचतुष्पदयोः सप्तमम् अक्षरं लघु भवति। सप्तमम् अक्षरं यथाक्रमम् परिवर्तते, प्रथमपादे गुरु द्वितीयपादे लघु तृतियपादे गुरु चतुष्पादे लघु।
पृष्ठ ३६, सरलसंस्कृतसरणिः प्रथमो भागः,

Anushtup meter has 4 quarters, each quarter has 8 letters, 6th letter of each quarter is Guru(deergha) and 5th letter Laghu (hraswa ). The 7th letter of 1st and 3rd quarters is a Guru and of 2nd and 4th quarters a Laghu. Thus the 7th letter is converted to (Guru, Laghu, Guru, Laghu) pattern in the 1,2,3,4 quarters respectively.

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    Interesting aspect; never thought of it. Why don't you put some examples of the verses in question. BTW, what I hear from people that, VyAsa may not have written it. But it was passed verbally from generation to generation.
    – iammilind
    Apr 4, 2016 at 11:52
  • @ iammilind you can check every verse.. by the word 'written' I mean composed..
    – Tezz
    Apr 4, 2016 at 12:01
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    @Anil Kumar ... No my question is different from that question... That question actually meant "Were there more dialogues of Krishna that were not mentioned in Gita.?"....But I mean "Did actual conversation happened poetically ?"
    – Tezz
    Apr 4, 2016 at 13:14
  • You can be sure that familiar conversational style would be quite different from Vyasa's composed and formatted text.
    – Narasimham
    Apr 4, 2016 at 18:15
  • The conversation between Lord Sri Krishna and Arjuna was very compact, Arjuna would not have required lengthy explanation, because he was a scholar of that time. Vedavyasa has documented it in the form you now know (poem). Mainly Arjuna's questions are 'our' questions. He asked questions on behalf of mankind. Lord's answer is not confined to Arjuna alone!! Jun 18, 2016 at 17:14

1 Answer 1

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As far as I know nowhere is mentioned something like VedVyasa modified/reformatted the conversation in Anushtup meter. It is believed that Srimad Bhagavad Gita which we currently have is the original/exact as said by Krishna and that's why it is called "The song of Lord".

Adi Shankaracharya has written following in his bhashya on Bhagavad Gita:

तं धर्मं भगवता यथोपदिष्टं वेदव्यासः सर्वज्ञः भगवान् गीताख्यै: सप्तभिः श्लोकशतैः उपनिबबन्ध ॥

Hindi Interpretation from Gitapress book:

उक्त दोनों प्रकारके धर्मोको भगवान् ने जैसे जैसे कहाथा ठिक वैसे ही सर्वज्ञ भगवान् वेदव्यासजीने गीता नामक सात सौ श्लोकोके रूपमे ग्रथित किया ।

Which means[1]:

As God preached about the two 'Dharmas', knowledgeable Vedvyas exactly acquired it in the form of 700 chants called 'Geeta'.

[1] English translation credit : Maulik V.

UPDATE:

According to the section: "Greatness of Gita" of Gujarati version (Book code:1034) of Srimad Bhagavd Gita by Gitapress Gorakhpur (ebook is not available):

screen-shot

English translation[2]:

Gita came directly from the divine mouth of Lord Krishna and then it was compiled by Veda Vyasa. Mostly in all part of Gita, Lord Krishna gave his teachings in poetical form which was kept by Veda Vyasa as it is. For few parts (told by Krishna) which were not in poetical form, Vyasa himself converted it into poetical form. Vyasa also converted the words of Arjuna, Sanjaya and Dhritarastra in poetical form. And he divided these 700 verses into 18 chapters and kept it inside Mahabharata which we see today.

[2] Translation credit: Tezz

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  • So do you mean Arjuna also asked question in poetry. Dhritarastra also spoke in poetry. Sanjaya also spoke in poetry. Duryodhana also spoke in poetry. Because 700 verses of Bhagvad Gita consists of dialogue of Arjuna, Sanjaya and Even Duryodhana, Dhritarastra and others...
    – Tezz
    Sep 14, 2016 at 11:13
  • @Tezz Updated the answer.
    – Pandya
    Dec 10, 2016 at 8:00
  • Half of the credits to @Tezz Dec 10, 2016 at 8:25
  • @SreeCharan Why not? Always, Done!
    – Pandya
    Dec 10, 2016 at 8:34

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