Mahabharata

The Mahābhārata is one of the two great Sanskrit epics of ancient India and is revered within Hindu tradition as a Smṛti text. Alongside the Rāmāyaṇa, it forms a foundational pillar of classical Indian literature, combining myth, history, philosophy and theology within an expansive narrative centred on the legendary conflict of the Kurukṣetra War. It is notable for its immense scale, complex narrative structure and enduring influence on South Asian culture, religious thought and literature.
The epic recounts the rivalry between two groups of royal cousins—the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas—whose dispute culminates in a devastating war for sovereignty. Interwoven with the central narrative are numerous independent tales, discourses and didactic passages. These include reflections on dharma, the four goals of life (puruṣārthas), devotional traditions and broader philosophical questions. Among its most celebrated embedded works are the Bhagavad Gītā, the story of Damayantī, the tale of Śakuntalā, and episodes concerning Savitri and Satyavān, Purūravas and Urvaśī, Kacha and Devayānī, and the Ramopākhyāna.

Textual development and authorship

Traditional accounts attribute the composition of the Mahābhārata to the sage Vyāsa, who is also a central figure in the narrative. According to epic tradition, Vyāsa dictated the text to Gaṇeśa, who served as the scribe; modern scholarship considers this a later addition not found in the critical edition. Vyāsa is said to have described the work as itihāsa—a term used for narrative histories that reflect cultural memory.
The epic employs an elaborate frame narrative, characteristic of ancient Indian literary traditions. It is first recited by the sage Vaiśampāyana, a disciple of Vyāsa, to King Janamejaya, the great-grandson of Arjuna. Later, the bard Ugraśravas Sauti recounts the entire epic to a gathering of sages during a twelve-year sacrificial session in the Naimiṣa forest. This layered narrative technique situates the storytelling within a lineage of teachers and reciters.
Scholars regard the Mahābhārata as the product of a long process of accretion and redaction rather than the creation of a single author. Linguistic, thematic and structural features point to the growth of the text over several centuries. While traditional dating extends the epic’s origins to hoary antiquity, modern critical research generally places its core development between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, with some older components possibly reaching back to the 4th century BCE. The text probably reached its final major redacted form during the early Gupta period.

Length, structure and classification

The Mahābhārata is commonly described as the longest epic poem in world literature. Its most extensive recension contains over 100,000 ślokas (couplets), amounting to more than 200,000 lines of verse, alongside prose passages. At approximately 1.8 million words, it is roughly ten times longer than the combined length of the Iliad and Odyssey, and about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa. Within Indian tradition it is sometimes revered as the “fifth Veda” for its encyclopaedic scope.
The epic distinguishes a core section of 24,000 verses, known as the Bhārata, from additional material that expanded over time. Later redactors organised the work according to symbolic numerical structures—for example, its 18 books (parvans) and the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gītā correspond to the 18 days of the central war and the 18 armies that fought in it.
Modern scholars identify at least three major redactional stages:

• Jaya (Victory): a foundational version traditionally attributed to Vyāsa, said to have contained 8,800 verses;
• Bhārata: the 24,000-verse version recited by Vaiśampāyana;
• Mahābhārata: the expanded compendium of more than 100,000 verses recited by Ugraśravas.

Some scholars argue that Jaya and Bhārata may refer to the same early text rather than distinct compositions. The critical edition produced in the twentieth century attempted to reconstruct the oldest recoverable textual form based on extensive manuscript evidence from across the Indian subcontinent.

Accretion, redaction and early references

The Mahābhārata grew through successive layers of oral and written transmission. Unlike the Vedas, which were preserved with extreme precision, epic lore was part of a more flexible tradition in which bards adapted language, style and content over generations. As a result, the earliest recoverable textual layers cannot be much older than the earliest external references.
Notable early references to terms such as Bhārata and Mahābhārata appear in Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī (4th century BCE) and the Gṛhya Sūtras, suggesting that both the core 24,000-verse Bhārata and an early extended version existed by that time. The transmission of the epic was heavily shaped by later redactors, including groups of scholastics such as the Pāñcarātra scholars, who may have overseen the text until its final major editorial stages.
Manuscript evidence is relatively late due to the fragility of early writing materials in the Indian climatic context. Among the oldest extant manuscripts related to epic tradition is the Spitzer Manuscript (c. 200 CE), discovered along the Silk Road and considered one of the earliest surviving Sanskrit texts.
Some episodes, such as the snake sacrifice (sarpasattra) of King Janamejaya, are thought to have been independent tales incorporated into the epic by thematic association. Their parallels in Vedic Brahmana literature—such as the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa—indicate deep roots within early Indian ritual stories.

Narrative themes and literary character

The Mahābhārata displays a rich and multifaceted narrative landscape. Its principal theme is the moral and political struggle over rightful kingship, but this central storyline is interwoven with:

• genealogical accounts of dynasties descending from Bharata,
• philosophical dialogues exploring dharma, ethics and cosmology,
• mythological tales embedded within the broader narrative,
• didactic discourses on social conduct, governance, ritual and metaphysics.

Its literary structure exemplifies the frame story technique, situating multiple narrative layers within overarching recitations. Although some early scholars described the epic as unwieldy or chaotic, modern research appreciates its structural complexity, thematic richness and cultural depth.

Cultural significance and legacy

The Mahābhārata has shaped Indian civilisation for over two millennia. It has influenced religious practice, political thought, literature, theatre, classical dance, visual arts and modern media. Its philosophical passages, particularly the Bhagavad Gītā, are central to Hindu devotional and intellectual traditions.
The epic continues to be studied for its insights into ancient Indian society, kinship systems, warrior ethics, ritual contexts and the evolution of Sanskrit prose and poetry. As a living text, it remains a key reference for moral reflection, cultural identity and historical imagination across South Asia and the global Indian diaspora.