The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana. This text of ancient India is an anonymous Sanskrit epic dating back to a very ancient tradition. Its writing spans about 10 centuries from the 6th century BC. No doubt, the text underwent many modifications since the Vedic era until the 4th century AD.

In this epic of ancient India we can find some stories similar to those of the Torah, the Bible or the Popol-Vuh, with regard to the Creation of the world, lost paradise and the knowledge which humanity was deprived of. The Mahabharata describes the constant intervention of the Gods in human affairs and even explains that they provide heavenly weapons in order to support the earth heroes they favored.

The longest version of Mahabharata consists of over 200,000 individual verse lines and long prose passages. It is an epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. In this War, the main characters are notably the god Krishna, eighth and full incarnation of Vishnu, and his companion Arjuna, son and incarnation of Indra, the four brothers of Arjuna, Vidura, incarnation of Dharma, and finally the blind King Dhritarashtra and his hundred sons, assisted by the hero Karna.

Karna had a heavenly weapon, but it could be used only once. Arjuna, honest and valiant warrior, had also some « celestial weapons » granted by the gods. Helped by the god Krishna, he defeated the Kauravas, enemies of his family, and, after leaving his conquests to his elder brother Yudishthira, weary of the earthly existence, he went to Swarga Loka, the « Hindu Paradise ». It is in this story that fits the episode of the Bhagavad-Gita.

The Bhagavad-Gita consists of 700 verses in Sanskrit. It is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The Bhagavad-Gita is the yogic, philosophical teaching than the god Krishna gives to his companion Arjuna. This text sacred, the most revered of the India, represents a synthesis of previous systems: ways of understanding, meditation, devotion and works.

The Mahabharata is a sum of religious, yogic and philosophical concepts, legends and historical traditions, moral and legal rules.