What is the Mahābhārata?
Q: What is the Mahābhārata?
A: The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It tells of issues between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War, and also includes philosophical and devotional material.
Q: Who wrote the Mahābhārata?
A: The Mahābhārata is normally said to have been written by Vyasa. Most of it was probably put together between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE.
Q: How long is the Mahabharata?
A: The longest version has over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines, as well as long sections of prose. In total, it has about 1.8 million words which makes it around ten times longer than both the Iliad and Odyssey combined and four times longer than Ramaayana.
Q: What are some stories featured in the Mahabharata?
A: Some stories featured in this epic include Bhagavad Gita, Damayanti, Shakuntala, Pururava & Urvashi, Savitri & Satyavan, Kacha & Devyani and Rishyasringa. It also includes a shortened version of Ramaayana.
Q: What topics does this epic cover?
A: This epic covers a number of topics such as aspects of Hinduism, Hindu mythology, ethics and Hindu way of life. There is also a nineteenth section named Harivamsha which deals with these topics in more detail.
Q: When did it become its final form?
A: The text probably became its final form by early Gupta period (c 4th century CE).
Q:What importance does this epic hold for world civilization?
A:The importance that this epic holds for world civilization has been compared to that of Bible , Quran , works Homer , Greek drama or William Shakespeare's works .It is sometimes called fifth Veda .
