MAHĀBHĀRATA Skt., lit. “the great epic (of the battle) of the descendants of Bhārata”; next to the Rāmāyana the second monumental (and most voluminous) epic of Hindu or Indian literature. It consists of 106,000 verses in eighteen books (parva). Its authorship is ascribed to the mythical sage Vyāsa; however, between the fifth century B.C.E and the second century C.E. a great many authors and “compilers” (Skt. vyāsa) indubitably worked on the text, which gradually came to include the greater part of India’s popular myths, fables, and fairy tales.
The story’s main theme is the battle between two related Bharata families, the evil Kauravas and the virtuous Pāndavas, for the kingdom divided up by the blind king Dhritarāshtra. The most important philosophical section is the Bhagavad-Gītā, in book 6, which contains Krishna’s instructions to Arjuna just before the beginning of the eighteen-day battle whose dramatic events form the focal point of the Mahābhārata. Popular narrative elements include the romance between Nala and Damayantī: in the “Book of the Forest” and the highly poetic story of the faithfulness of Sāvitrī, with its description of the victory of love over death.
“The key to the understanding of this immense work is seen by Indians to lie in its moral intention to portray the triumph of virtue and the subjugation of vice. The accounts of legends, cultures, myths, and traditions that are preserved in this work offer a profound look into India’s past. They bear witness to a unique, early inquiry into the hidden truths of religion and contain the beginnings of philosophical speculation. No other work except the Bible has had such influence on the moral education of a culture.” (Helmut Hoffmann)
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Documents on the Mahabharata
Books on the Mahabharata
External links: Mahabharatha