Mahabharata
The longest poem ever composed — about 100,000 verses — is a family quarrel that becomes a world war. Vyasa's Mahabharata holds the Bhagavad Gita, the Vishnu Sahasranama and the Yaksha's questions. Why does it refuse to give easy answers about right and wrong?
The verse
The great story of the Bharatas
Composed, tradition says, by the sage Vyasa — himself a character in the story — and written down by Ganesha, the Mahabharata has eighteen parvas (books) and about 100,000 verses in its longer form, making it many times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey together. It tells of two branches of one family, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, and the war at Kurukshetra that destroyed almost everyone.
Ganesha's condition
Tradition tells that when Vyasa asked Ganesha to write the epic as he dictated, Ganesha agreed on one condition: Vyasa must never pause. Vyasa agreed — with a condition of his own…
The journey continues for members
- Vyasa's counter-condition
- Questions without easy answers
- The Yaksha's questions
- Text and history
- For life today
Sources
- Mahabharata — Critical Edition, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
- Vana Parva — Yaksha Prashna