1935–1936 · First English edition · Two volumes

Śrimad Bhagavadgītā Rahasya or Karma-Yoga-Śāstra

The first English edition · Complete in two volumes

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Poona, 1935–1936. The first English edition of Tilak’s great prison-born interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita, complete in two matching volumes and preserved in the original gilt-lettered black cloth. Both title pages state “First Edition.” A notably handsome, clean set of a modern Indian classic.

Written under the severe constraints of imprisonment, Gita Rahasya is at once scriptural commentary, philosophical argument and a programme for ethical action. Tilak rejected the view that renunciation was the Gita’s governing message. For him, Krishna’s teaching demanded karma-yoga: purposeful action performed without attachment to personal reward, in service of duty and the larger order of society.

The book displays the extraordinary range of Lokmanya Tilak’s mind. Mathematician and lawyer, journalist and nationalist leader, historian of Vedic antiquity and one of the formative figures of India’s freedom movement, he made the Gita speak directly to the moral and political dilemmas of modern life. The result is now recognised as one of the defining modern commentaries on India’s foundational philosophical text.

This complete first-English-edition set is especially attractive in its original matching bindings. It joins two earlier landmarks in The Eye of the Beholder collection: Charles Wilkins’s first English translation of 1785 and Abbé Parraud’s first French translation of 1787. Together they form a distinctive Gita triptych—from the text’s first entry into European print culture to its modern Indian reclamation as a philosophy of purposeful action.

Publication

Poona, 1935–1936

Language

English and Sanskrit

Format

Two volumes · Octavo · Original publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt

Completeness

Complete in the two intended volumes: Volume I, Poona, 1935; Volume II, Poona, 1936. Each title page explicitly states “First Edition” and records an issue of 10,000 copies. The philosophical exposition, appendices, indices, Sanskrit text, English translation and verse-by-verse commentary are present across the set.

Condition

Very fine to excellent overall. A strong, matching set in the original black publisher’s cloth, with the gilt titles on the upper boards and spines remaining clear and attractive. The bindings are firm and well preserved, showing only light rubbing and minor marks consistent with age. The text blocks are sound; the leaves are notably clean and fresh, with gentle age-toning and no material foxing visible in the supplied photographs. Early ownership lettering and unobtrusive circular embossed stamps provide evidence of the set’s history without diminishing its visual appeal.

Provenance

An early ownership name is lettered in gilt on the upper boards. Discreet circular embossed ownership stamps appear on the title pages.

Rarity

Although Gita Rahasya has been repeatedly reprinted, the original first English edition is distinctly scarce in commerce as a complete, correctly dated, matching two-volume set. Surviving copies are frequently separated, rebound, heavily read or institutionally worn. This clean pair, retaining its original gilt-lettered cloth and strong visual unity, represents the form most desirable to collectors of the Bhagavad Gita, Indian nationalism, prison literature and modern Hindu thought.

Status

Available

Price

USD 1,250