How many shlokas are in the Bhagavad Gita?
Traditionally the Gita has 700 verses; some editions count 701 by including Arjuna's question at the start of chapter 13.
Answer
By the traditional count the Bhagavad Gita has 700 verses. Of these, 574 are spoken by Shri Krishna, 84 by Arjuna, 41 by Sanjaya and 1 by Dhritarashtra. For this reason the Gita is also remembered as a "saptashati", a work of seven hundred verses.
Some editions add a question from Arjuna at the beginning of chapter 13, in which he asks about prakriti and purusha, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and the object of knowledge. When this verse is counted, the total becomes 701. Many well-known classical commentators do not include this verse in the count, while a number of modern editions do.
This website follows the editions that include this verse in chapter 13, which is why you will see 701 verses here. Under either count, the message and content of the Gita are exactly the same.
- Verses Traditional
- 700
- Verses On Site
- 701