Introduction & Overview of Mahabharata by William Buck

Mahabharata Introduction

The Mahabharata is the great national epic poem of India (offically known as "Bharat"). Comprising one hundred thousand stanzas of verse divided into eighteen books, or parvas, the poem is the largest single literary work in existence. Originally composed in the ancient language of Sanskrit sometime between 400 BC and 400 AD, it is set in a legendary era thought to correspond to the period of Indian culture and history in approximately the tenth century BC. Its main subject is a bloody feud between two branches of the ruling family of the northern Indian kingdom of Kurujangala, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Their conflict culminates in an epic eighteen-day battle and the annihilation of nearly all those involved in the war, except the victors, the five Pandava brothers—Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva—and a handful of others.

The poem's theme focuses on the Hindu concept ofdharma, or sacred duty....
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