Sant Dnyaneshwar or Saint Jnaneshwar readapted the Sanskrit Bhagavad Gita in Marathi Prakrit (old dialect used by common Maharashtrians) and it is known as Dhnyashwari or Jnaneswari. This new English translation of Saint Jnaneshwar’s Bhagavad Gita is done by Dr. Ravin Thatte and is titled ‘The Genius of Dnyaneshwar.’
Dhnyashwari, the highly appreciated and widely read Bhagavad Gita adaptation, was primarily intended for common people who were not able to understand and read the original Sanskrit version. The original version only contains 700 verses but Saint Jnaneshwar’s Jnaneswari contains 9000 verses. Saint Jnaneshwar was a youngster when this path breaking literary work was completed.
The new English translation of Dhnyashwari contains both explanation and translation of the verses and contains 123 chapters. Some repetitions and ambiguous portions have been avoided in the translation.
The translator Dr. Ravin Thatte is a famous plastic surgeon and the translation is highly enlightening and inspiring. The highlight of the translation is the use of simple language to explain the difficult portions in the original version.
‘The Genius of Dnyaneshwar’ is published by B.K.L. Walawalkar Hospital in Ratnagiri.