Counted from the text
Who speaks the Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita is a conversation, and the four voices in it are not heard equally. These are the counts, taken from the text itself.
Who speaks the most verses in the Bhagavad Gita?
Shri Krishna, by a long way. Of the 700 verses he speaks 574 — about 82 per cent, across 17 of the 18 chapters. Arjuna speaks 85, Sanjaya 40, and Dhritarashtra exactly one: the opening question that begins the whole dialogue, and the only line he is given. The counts are taken from the speaker recorded with each verse in the Trust’s own transcription, and the full corpus can be downloaded and checked.
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust · counted from the Bhagavad Gita
Of the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna speaks 574, Arjuna speaks 85, Sanjaya speaks 40, and Dhritarashtra speaks 1 — the opening question that begins the whole dialogue, and the only line he is given.
Verses by speaker
| Speaker | Verses | Share | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shri Krishna | 574 | 82.0% | 17 of 18 chapters |
| Arjuna | 85 | 12.1% | 13 of 18 chapters |
| Sanjaya | 40 | 5.7% | Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 11, Ch. 18 |
| Dhritarashtra | 1 | 0.1% | Ch. 1 |
| Total | 700 | 100% | 18 chapters |
Counted from the speaker recorded with each verse in the Trust’s transcription.
Chapter by chapter
| Ch. | Name | Verses | Shri Krishna | Arjuna | Sanjaya | Dhritarashtra |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | अर्जुनविषादयोग | 47 | · | 22 | 24 | 1 |
| 2 | साङ्ख्ययोग | 72 | 63 | 6 | 3 | · |
| 3 | कर्मयोग | 43 | 40 | 3 | · | · |
| 4 | ज्ञानकर्मसंन्यासयोग | 42 | 41 | 1 | · | · |
| 5 | कर्मसंन्यासयोग | 29 | 28 | 1 | · | · |
| 6 | ध्यानयोग | 47 | 42 | 5 | · | · |
| 7 | ज्ञानविज्ञानयोग | 30 | 30 | · | · | · |
| 8 | अक्षरब्रह्मयोग | 28 | 26 | 2 | · | · |
| 9 | राजविद्याराजगुह्ययोग | 34 | 34 | · | · | · |
| 10 | विभूतियोग | 42 | 35 | 7 | · | · |
| 11 | विश्वरूपदर्शनयोग | 55 | 14 | 33 | 8 | · |
| 12 | भक्तियोग | 20 | 19 | 1 | · | · |
| 13 | क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञविभागयोग | 34 | 34 | · | · | · |
| 14 | गुणत्रयविभागयोग | 27 | 26 | 1 | · | · |
| 15 | पुरुषोत्तमयोग | 20 | 20 | · | · | · |
| 16 | दैवासुरसम्पद्विभागयोग | 24 | 24 | · | · | · |
| 17 | श्रद्धात्रयविभागयोग | 28 | 27 | 1 | · | · |
| 18 | मोक्षसंन्यासयोग | 78 | 71 | 2 | 5 | · |
The commonest terms
How many of the 700 verses contain each term itself, counting compound and sandhi forms. Words of the same idea that are not forms of the headword are counted apart from it and shown on the vocabulary page. A count of occurrences, not of discussions — the full note on what that does and does not mean is there too.
| Term | Meaning | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| कर्म karma | Karma | 115 |
| आत्मन् ātman | Atman | 110 |
| योग yoga | Yoga | 93 |
| ज्ञान jñāna | Jnana | 65 |
| ब्रह्मन् brahman | Brahman | 44 |
| सुख sukha | Happiness | 40 |
| बुद्धि buddhi | Discernment | 39 |
| काम kāma | Desire | 37 |
| यज्ञ yajña | Yajna | 37 |
| इन्द्रिय indriya | The senses | 34 |
| गुण guṇa | Guna | 30 |
| भक्ति bhakti | Bhakti | 29 |
| दुःख duḥkha | Suffering | 28 |
| धर्म dharma | Dharma | 27 |
| पुरुष puruṣa | Purusha | 27 |
| मोह moha | Delusion | 26 |
| तपस् tapas | Tapas | 24 |
| मनस् manas | The mind | 22 |
| सङ्ग saṅga | Attachment | 22 |
| प्रकृति prakṛti | Prakriti | 20 |
The corpus
Take the whole thing.
All 700 verses in one file: Devanagari, IAST, the Trust’s English, the Trust’s Hindi, the speaker of each verse, and the Sanskrit terms it contains. Same data as the site, generated from the same source at the same moment, so the two cannot disagree.
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Terms
The Sanskrit text is in the public domain. It was transcribed here from published editions and cross-checked verse by verse against a second, with a third consulted wherever the two disagreed.
The English and Hindi translations are the Trust’s own work, written for this website, and the Trust holds the copyright in them. No third-party translation appears anywhere on this site. They may be quoted, taught from and built on freely, with attribution to Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust and a link to this page.
How to cite
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust. The Bhagavad Gita: 700 verses, Sanskrit with English and Hindi translation. Hansi, Haryana. https://gitabhawan.org.in/gita/research
If you find an error in a verse, in a translation or in a figure on this page, write to us. Corrections are published, not quietly made.