The Bhagavad Gita by Vyasa
Published -200 · 78 pages · 25,000 words · about 2 hours at an average pace · Nonfiction, Philosophy, Poetry, Religion & Spirituality
How hard is The Bhagavad Gita to read?
The Bhagavad Gita scores 33 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 38 out of 100
- Sanskrit philosophical terms in translation. Devotional vocabulary.
- Sentence structure: 35 out of 100
- Abstraction: 65 out of 100
- Deeply abstract philosophical concepts: Self, Brahman, dharma.
- Information density: 60 out of 100
- Compressed. Entire philosophical system in 700 verses.
- Narrative indirection: 25 out of 100
- Dialogue form embedded in epic narrative.
- Symbolic density: 50 out of 100
- Every element is symbolic: the battlefield, the chariot, the armies.
- Ironic distance: 15 out of 100
- Krishna's detached wisdom in the face of Arjuna's anguish.
- Resolution withholding: 15 out of 100
- Arjuna accepts his duty. The battle proceeds.
- Structural complexity: 28 out of 100
- Eighteen chapters of dialogue covering multiple yogic paths.
How The Bhagavad Gita is regarded
The Bhagavad Gita holds a literary regard score of 87 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.