Short answers, pulled from the story.
Scholars place the composition of the Bhagavad Gita between the second century BCE and the first century CE, though some estimates suggest dates as early as 400 BCE or as late as 300 CE. The text exists within the Mahabharata epic, which itself was compiled over several hundred years, creating a complex timeline for its final form.
The dialogue takes place on the Kurukshetra battlefield just before the start of the climactic war between two massive armies. Prince Arjuna asks his charioteer Krishna to drive the chariot to the center so he can see those eager for war.
Chapter thirteen verses twenty-three through twenty-five describe four pathways to self-realization that later became known as the four yogas. These include meditation called raja yoga, insight and intuition known as jnana yoga, righteous action termed karma yoga, and loving devotion referred to as bhakti yoga.
Adi Shankara published his commentary around 800 CE, interpreting the Gita in a monist nondualistic tradition known as Advaita Vedanta. He prefaces his comments by stating the text appears to teach diverse and contradictory doctrines to the laity.
In April 2025, the Bhagavad Gita manuscript was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. This event marks an extraordinary recognition of the text's prominence increasingly acknowledged by scholars as a feature of modernity.