Mahābhārata Overview

The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. The epic classified as an ‘Itihasa’ and initially called ‘Jaya’ had just 8,800 verses. Jaya means victory and the story essentially deals with victory of “Dharma” or righteousness. Vyasa taught ‘Jaya’ to his four disciples Vaisampayana, Sumantu, Jaimini and Paila and his son Suka. Later, Vaisampayana recited the epic to King Janamejaya while he performed Sarpasatra and it became ‘Bharata’ with 24,000 verses. Finally, Ugrasravas son of Lomaharshana surnamed Sauti, who heard the story at the sarpasatra, recited this epic to the great sages attending the twelve year sacrifice of Saunaka, called Kulapati, in the forest of Naimisha and became the current version with close to verses. The questions asked by Janamejaya and answers given by Vaisampayana became additions to the original epic written by Vyasa. Similarly, the questions asked by the sages to Ugrasravas and his answers also becomes part of the final version.

The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas. The Mahābhārata 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 Yuga.

It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or puruṣārtha. Among the principal works and stories in the Mahābhārata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, the story of Shakuntala, the story of Pururava and Urvashi, the story of Savitri and Satyavan, the story of Kacha and Devayani, the story of Rishyasringa and an abbreviated version of the Rāmāyaṇa, often considered as works in their own right.

The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written". Its longest version consists of over 1,00,000 śloka, and long prose passages. At about 1.8 million words in total.