Gita web app (Next.js, open source) v1.4.1: Improved User Interface including in Settings page; Notes for students & self-learners

Last updated on 3 Dec. 2025

3 Dec. 2025 - Note: Regular app backend data service is not working and so using simpler backend data service

On 30 Nov. 2025, I found that the free graphql backend data service - https://gql.bhagavadgita.io/graphql - used by the regular app, is not working. The regular app is dependent on this service to get Bhagavad Gita data to be shown to the user. This graphql backend data service is provided by somebody else, and so not in my control. I do not think an alternative free graphql backend service for Bhagavad Gita data is available, as of now.

For the time being, I am using an alternate, simpler and free JSON backend service https://vedicscriptures.github.io which provides Bhagavad Gita data in quite a different manner from the original graphql service. So I had to simplify the app to use translation and commentary for Gita verses of only one author — Swami Sivananda — and therefore disabled the Settings menu item, which previously allowed selection of translators and commentators.

The basic app functionality of showing Gita chapters and verses with Swami Sivananda translation and commentary is working. But I have not been able to test the app thoroughly and so there may be some issues. This limited functionality app is deployed at the regular app URL: https://gita-rsi.vercel.app/

I have put up an issue in the GitHub repo - https://github.com/gita/bhagavad-gita-graphql - which seems to be associated with the original graphql service. But I do not know if or when it will be fixed.

This post has screenshots of the app when the original graphql backend data service was working.

I have put up a blog post with more details about the original graphql service being down issue. Once the graphql backend data service is working again, any Next.js developer can refer to its section Resetting app to regular functionality to easily deploy the regular functionality app (Open Source, MIT license) on any host. Of course, if at that time I am in a position to update this app deployment myself, I will do so.

The contents below are about the previous version of the app, before the original graphql backend data service went down.
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Quick Info

Github repo of web app: https://github.com/ravisiyer/gita



5 Sep. 2024 Update: Some minor changes were made to the web app and so the version number has been changed to 1.4.1. The contents below about version 1.4 should largely, if not fully, apply to version 1.4.1 of the app too.

Details


[On PC desktop/laptop, to open pic in larger resolution (if available), right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

Above pics of home page of Gita web app v1.4 as seen on desktop PC.



Above pics of home page of Gita web app v1.4 as seen on mobile phone (Samsung M21 Android).

This Gita web app (Next.js, open source, freeware) shows Gita verse text, transliteration and word meaning, along with translations and commentaries in English, Hindi and Sanskrit. It does not have Gita verse audio facility. It is a frontend app depending on a backend developed and deployed by others for its data.

The backend data service for this Gita web app is a public GraphQL endpoint: https://gql.bhagavadgita.io/graphql (GraphQL Explorer), with possibly this GitHub repository. I do not know how stable this data source is but for the past few months that I have been using it, it has been available all the time and been stable. This data source seems to be using a subset of data of IIT Kanpur's Gita Super Site , which publicly shares translations and commentaries of famous spiritual figures from India like Swami Sivananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Adidevananda and Swami Gambirananda . The Sanskrit commentaries of renowned ancient masters like Sri Shankaracharya, Sri Ramanujacharya and Sri Madhavacharya are also part of this data.

This Gita web app is able to utilize the above-mentioned awesome GraphQL data resource to show translations and commentaries of above mentioned spiritual masters and more.

This Gita web app is deployed at: https://gita-rsi.vercel.app/ and its Github public repository is: https://github.com/ravisiyer/gita . As it is a responsive web app, the app is accessible from Internet browsers (like Chrome/Edge/Safari) on PC desktop/laptop, Android mobile and Apple (iphone) mobile (and tablets though I have not tested it on tablets). Please note that it is NOT a native mobile (Android/iPhone) app.

Some more screenshots of the Gita app v1.4 as seen on PC desktop are given below.









Some more screenshots of the Gita app v1.4 as seen on mobile phone (Samsung M21 Android) are given below.










Note that open source means that anybody is free to modify it and use it. Freeware means that anybody is free to use it in whatever way they want. I am using MIT software license for this purpose.

I think this software can be modified and used for any Chapter and Verse kind of application including, say, the Bible, Upanishads or a simple collection of poems. It could even be modified and used for Period (like year) and Discourse (like various dates in a year), kind of web app.

Adaptations of my Gita app for other needs like mentioned above, will need creation of suitable GraphQL database endpoints, or adaption of the app to use other database sources (like SQL (e.g. Postgres) or NoSQL (e.g. MongoDB) databases).

Web app version: 1.4.1 , Date: 5th September 2024

Web app author: Ravi S. Iyer

Footnotes

1. This Gita web app uses Next.js and Apollo Client to retrieve Bhagavad Gita chapters and verses data from a GraphQL endpoint, and displays it on browser. It also uses Tailwind CSS and TypeScript.

2. There seems to be a question mark character problem with the data associated with some commentaries for which I am providing a temporary fix in the app. More info on it is provided in a page mentioned in About page of the app.

3. An important objective of this app development has been to provide a pathway to self-learner students to follow the path I used to learn the required technologies and develop this app. I have made extensive notes about the path I used in the blog some of whose posts are mentioned below.

4. Blog posts about earlier versions of this web app:

5. This Gita web app has been developed on top of Very Simple Gita which is a very simple but functional, open-source freeware, Bhagavad Gita web app. I have changed the User Interface (UI) of this app to a regular web app UI. But, from a source code point of view, it no longer is a very simple Gita app. Students and other learners may want to first go through the source code of Very Simple Gita app before going through this app's source code.

6. For students and self-learners who want to understand the changes made in this version 1.4 from earlier version 1.3, from a software development perspective, I have put up the post: Notes on enhancements and bugfixes to Bhagavad Gita v1.3 Next.js web app .


8. Added app to SourceForge.

Jio (and other) Mobile Network Access Fix

If vercel.app (and vercel.com) are not accessible on your mobile, the app link will not work. A workaround that works for my Android Samsung M21 phone in Puttaparthi for Jio (and also Airtel, at times) is: In (Settings->Connections->Mobile Networks->)Access Point Names, change APN protocol from IPv4/IPv6 to IPv4. After that, vercel.com and vercel.app are accessible and my Gita web app (hosted on vercel.app) is also accessible.

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