Abstract

The Bhagavad Gita—an acclaimed and venerated ancient sacred religious and philosophical text integral to the Hindu faith—shows several rhetorical strategies. To figure out these strategies, in this essay I analyze the Gita using the Nyayasutras method—a systematic guide to rhetorical analysis of Hindu philosophy. Rhetorical scrutiny is applied to the dialog between two main characters of this sacred text: Bhagavan Krishna and Arjuna. I first introduce the Gita and its significance for rhetorical scholarship. In what follows, I present briefly the Nyayasutra method and discuss three types of rhetorical strategies found in the text: Astikya/bhava (ontological) strategy, jnapaka (revelatory) strategy, and tattva/nyaya (axiological) strategy. I also discuss very briefly some counter-arguments that are offered in the rhetoric of the Gita. My rhetorical analysis contributes to the rich ongoing academic discussion of Hindu rhetorical traditions and deepens existing English-medium scholarly discussion about rhetorical strategies employed in the text.