> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.urantia.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Bhagavad Gita API

> Bhagavad Gita API: get any passage by its reference, as JSON. Annie Besant (4th edition), 1922. 701 passages, public domain, no key needed.

The API serves **The Bhagavad Gita** (Annie Besant, 4th edition, 1922) as JSON, one passage at a time, by the reference people use. Krishna's teaching to the warrior Arjuna, from the Mahabharata. It has 701 passages in 18 chapters. No key and no account.

## Get a passage

```bash theme={null}
# BG 2.47
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/bhagavad-gita/2.47
# A whole chapter
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/bhagavad-gita/2
```

```json theme={null}
{
  "data": {
    "corpus": {
      "slug": "bhagavad-gita",
      "title": "The Bhagavad Gita",
      "translator": "Annie Besant (4th edition)",
      "year": 1922
    },
    "passages": [
      {
        "ref": "BG 2.47",
        "division": 2,
        "text": "Thy business is with the action only, never with its fruits; so let not the fruit of action be thy motive, nor be thou to inaction attached."
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

The slug `bhagavad-gita`, the id `bhagavad-gita-besant-1922`, and the prefix `bg` all name this text.

## References

Chapter and verse, `BG 2.47`.

`GET /scriptures/bhagavad-gita` lists every chapter with its first and last reference.

## Search

```bash theme={null}
# By meaning
curl -X POST https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/search/semantic \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":"your question","corpus":"bhagavad-gita","limit":5}'
# By keyword
curl 'https://api.urantia.dev/works/search?q=your%20words&work=bhagavad-gita'
```

Each passage also links to the closest paragraphs of the Urantia Papers: `GET /scriptures/bhagavad-gita/2.47/urantia-parallels`. The [world religions guide](https://docs.urantia.dev/scriptures.md) explains how the links are made, and the [MCP server](https://docs.urantia.dev/mcp-servers.md) has the same calls for AI agents.

## Source

* **Text:** The Bhagavad Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th edition) (1922)
* **Source:** [en.wikisource.org](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bhagavad-Gita_\(Besant_4th\))
* **License:** Public domain in the United States


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