Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two great Sanskrit epics of ancient India, alongside the Ramayana, and is revered within Hinduism. Its title can be rendered as "the great story of the Bharatas" or "the great India". It recounts the dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura that culminates in the battle of Kurukshetra, a war of succession between princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Tradition attributes the work to the sage Vyasa, who also appears as a character in the story. There is no consensus on its date of composition: most scholars place its final redaction between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, although some of its elements may reach back to the Vedic period. It was transmitted orally for generations by professional reciters, which favoured the appearance of added episodes and regional variants.

Its size is enormous. The longest version exceeds one hundred thousand verses (slokas) and roughly 1.8 million words, about ten times the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, which makes it one of the longest literary works in the world. Its structure is a story within a story: the sage Vaisampayana recites it to King Janamejaya, great-grandson of Arjuna, and much later a professional narrator, Ugrashravas Sauti, repeats it before a gathering of sages in the Naimisha forest. The narrative of war is interwoven with philosophical, religious and legal digressions, as well as many embedded tales, such as those of Damayanti, Shakuntala, Savitri and Satyavan, or an abridged version of the Ramayana.

Its most famous episode is the Bhagavad Gita, a dialogue between the Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna, in which the Vedic concept of dharma, or duty and right action, is discussed. It has become one of the most influential sacred texts of Hinduism. The work also reflects on the just war (dharmayuddha) and on the four aims of life (purusharthas). Its influence has been immense, not only in the religion and literature of India but also in performing arts, iconography and cultural life across the subcontinent and much of Southeast Asia.