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Mahabharata
,
India, (c 500 BC)
The Mahabharata" is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is of immense importance to the culture of the Indian subcontinent, and is a major text of Hinduism. Its discussion of human goals (artha or purpose, kama or pleasure, dharma or duty, and moksha or liberation) takes place in a long-standing tradition, attempting to explain the relationship of the individual to society and the world (the nature of the 'Self') and the workings of karma.
==
The Mahabharata" is some 3,500 years old and is the longest poem in any language. It is one of the founding epics of Indian culture and, with its mixture of cosmic drama and profound philosophy (one small section forms the Bhaghavad Gita) it holds aunique place in world literature. In this drastically shortened prose rendering, Narayan uses all his extraordinary talents to convey to a modern reader why this is such a great story. Filled with vivid characters, obsessed with the rise and fall of gods, empires and heroes, Narayan's "Mahabharata" is an enormously enjoyable experience and the perfect introduction to the otherwise bewildering Indian cosmology
==
The
Mahabharata
(
Sanskrit
Mahābhārata
महाभारत
, IPA:
[məɦaːˈbʱaːrət̪ə]
) is one of the two major
Sanskrit
epics
of
ancient India
, the other being the
Ramayana
.
[1]
Besides its epic narrative of the
Kurukshetra War
and the fates of the
Kauravas
and the
Pandava
princes, the
Mahabharata
contains much
philosophical
and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or
purusharthas
(12.161). Among the principal works and stories that are a part of the
Mahabharata
are the
Bhagavad Gita
, the story of
Damayanti
, an abbreviated version of the Ramayana, and the
Rishyasringa
, often considered as works in their own right.
Traditionally, the authorship of the
Mahabharata
is attributed to
Vyasa
. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are not thought to be appreciably older than around 400 BCE, though the origins of the story probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.
[2]
The text probably reached its final form by the early
Gupta period
(c. 4th century).
[3]
The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty". According to the
Mahabharata
itself, the tale is extended from a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply
Bhārata
.
[4]
The Mahabharata is the longest Sanskrit epic.
[5]
Its longest version consists of over 100,000
shloka
or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the
Iliad
and
Odyssey
combined, or about four times the length of the Ramayana.
[6]
[7]
W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahabharata to world civilization to that of the
Bible
, the works of
Shakespeare
, the works of
Homer
,
Greek drama
, or the
Qur'an
.
[8]
Textual history and structure
The epic is traditionally ascribed to the sage
Vyasa
, who is also a major character in the epic. The first section of the
Mahabharata
states that it was god
Ganesha
who, at the request of Vyasa, wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation. Ganesha is said to have agreed to write it only on condition that Vyasa never pause in his recitation. Vyasa agreed, provided Ganesha took the time to understand what was said before writing it down.
The epic employs the
story within a story
structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and non-religious works. It is recited to the King
Janamejaya
who is the great-grandson of Pandava prince
Arjuna
, by sage
Vaisampayana
, a disciple of Vyasa. The recitation of Vaisampayana to Janamejaya is then recited again by a professional storyteller named
Ugrasrava Sauti
, many years later, to an assemblage of sages performing the 12 year long sacrifice for King Saunaka Kulapati in the
Naimisha forest
.
Jaya
, the core of Mahābhārata is structured in the form of a dialogue between Kuru king Dhritarashtra and
Sanjaya
, his advisor and chariot driver. Sanjaya narrates each incident of the Kurukshetra War, fought in 18 days, as and when it happened. Dhritarāshtra sometimes asks questions and doubts and sometimes laments, knowing about the destruction caused by the war, to his sons, friends and kinsmen. He also feels guilty, due to his own role, that led to this war, destructive to the entire Indian subcontinent.
In the beginning, Sanjaya gives a description of the various continents of the Earth, the other planets, and focuses on the Indian Subcontinent and gives an elaborate list of hundreds of kingdoms, tribes, provinces, cities, towns, villages, rivers, mountains, forests, etc. of the (ancient) Indian Subcontinent (Bhārata Varsha). He also explains about the military formations adopted by each side on each day, the death of each hero and the details of each war-racings. Some 18 chapters of Vyasa's Jaya constitutes the
Bhagavad Gita
, the sacred text of the
Hindus
. Thus, this work of Vyasa, called Jaya deals with diverse subjects like geography, history, warfare, religion and morality. According to Mahabharata itself, Vaisampayana's
Bharata
expanded on the story, with Vyasa's Jaya embedded within it. Ugrasrava eventually composed the final Mahabharata, with both Vyasa's Jaya and Vaisampayana's Bharata embedded within the epic.
.
[33]
Synopsis
The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of
Hastinapura
, the kingdom ruled by the
Kuru
clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the
Kaurava
and the
Pandava
. Although the Kaurava is the senior branch of the family,
Duryodhana
, the eldest Kaurava, is younger than
Yudhisthira
, the eldest Pandava. Both Duryodhana and Yudhisthira claim to be first in line to inherit the throne.
The struggle culminates in the
great battle of Kurukshetra
, in which the
Pandavas
are ultimately victorious. The battle produces complex conflicts of kinship and friendship, instances of family loyalty and duty taking precedence over what is right, as well as the converse.
The
Mahabharata
itself ends with the death of
Krishna
, and the subsequent end of his dynasty and ascent of the Pandava brothers to heaven. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age of
Kali
(
Kali Yuga
), the fourth and final age of mankind, in which great values and noble ideas have crumbled, and man is heading toward the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue.
Arshia Sattar states that the central theme of the Mahabharata, as well as the Ramayana, is respectively Krishna's and Rama's hidden divinity and its progressive revelation.
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