"It's about you . . . If you listen carefully, at the end you'll be someone else."
The Mahabharata, in its original Sanskrit probably the longest epic ever composed, embodies much of the essence of Indian culture. Said to be written down by the god of writing and beginnings, Ganesha* (the elephant-headed god), it is a collection of tales and legends--including the fascinating story of a feud between two parts of a single Indian ruling family (the Bharata), featuring a gambling contest in which one set of cousins is tricked out of their kingdom. The war that is waged to settle competing claims for power culminates in a vast, cataclysmic battle, told in a heroic and moral context. In the final battle, Krishna teaches the warrior that the ultimate conflict is not about land and riches and worldly power. The ultimate battle, waged on cosmic ground, is about the human spirit. In the Mahabharata, the Ultimate Weapon is summoned, a weapon that if used will destroy the world of both matter and spirit. Shrinking from one's moral duty, refusal to act even when it is most difficult to act, and egotistical attachment to one's actions--these human weaknesses pose the greatest dangers to survival of the individual and the species."Listen to stories: It’s always pleasant and sometimes it improves you."
Historical Background of the Mahabharata and Online Texts | Plot Summary
| Shiva-Parvati-Ganesha | Krishna |
Mahbharata Seminar | Peter Brook's Film Version | Family-Character Chart
For historical background on the wars which are described in The Mahabharata, see the Library of Hindu History (click on "Ancient"); see also the Hindunet Webpage on The Mahabharata. For the online text of the Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Ramanand Prasad, see the Exploring Ancient World Cultures--and the essay on the historical context by Soumen De. See also the online Gita at Indiafocus. For beautiful presentation, with audio see the Bhagavad Gita Online--including reflections on the Gita by extraordinary people. For a view from a school of Vedantic studies, see Guidance through the Gita, from the Chinmaya Mission in Chicago of Badri, A School of Vedantic Studies. On the Nature of Brahman: An Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita (by Jeff Hooks, St Petersburg JC) is a personal favorite, though it takes a long time to load. See also the University of Tennessee Website on the Mahabharata. Here's one by a former MCC student and staff member, James Garza: from MindAtlas. top
PLOT SUMMARY from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Some general information. Note that the encyclopaedia uses diacritical marks under the letters n, st, sn to indicate the pronunciation. Alternate spellings are used in this Website (e.g., Siva, Shiva; Pandava, Panava).
"(Sanskrit: "Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty"), one of the two major Sanskrit epics of India, valued for its high literary merit and its religious inspiration. The Mahabharata consists of a mass of legendary and didactic material surrounding a central heroic narrative that tells of the struggle for supremacy between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Panavas. Together with the second major epic, the Ramayana ("Romance of Rama"), it is an important source of information about the evolution of Hinduism during the period about 400 BC-ad 200. Contained within the Mahabharata is the Bhagavadgita ("Song of the Lord"), which is the single most important religious text of Hinduism."The poem is made up of almost 100,000 couplets--its length thus being about seven times that of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined--divided into 18 parvans, or sections, to which has been added a supplement entitled Harivamsha ("Genealogy of the God Hari," i.e., Krishna-Vishnu). Authorship of the poem is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyasa, although it is more likely that he compiled existing material. The traditional date for the war that is the central event of the Mahabharata is 1302 BC, but most historians prefer a later date. The poem reached its present form about AD 400.
"The story's conflict begins when because of his blindness, Dhrtarastra, the elder of two princes, is passed over as king on his father's death in favour of his brother Panu. Dhrtarastra later assumes power when Panu renounces the kingship to become a religious hermit. The sons of Panu, the five Panava brothers (Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva), grow up in the court along with their cousins, the Kauravas (descendants of Kuru, a name applicable to both families, but applied for distinction to the sons of Dhrtarastra). Because of the enmity and jealousy that develops between the cousins, the Panavas are forced to leave the kingdom at the time of their father's death. During their exile the five jointly marry Draupadi and meet their cousin Krishna, who remains their friend and companion thereafter. They return to experience some years of prosperity in a divided kingdom but are again forced to retire to the forest for 12 years when the eldest brother, Yudhisthira, loses everything in a game of dice with the eldest of the Kauravas. The feud between the Kauravas and Panavas culminates in a great series of battles on the field of Kuruksetra (north of modern Delhi, in Haryana state). All the Kauravas are annihilated, and, on the victorious side, only the five Panava brothers and Krishna survive. Krishna dies at the hands of a hunter who mistakes him for a deer, and the five brothers, along with Draupadi and a dog who joins them (Dharma, the god of justice, in disguise), set out for Indra's heaven. One by one they fall on the way, and Yudhisthira alone reaches the gate of heaven. After further tests of his faithfulness and constancy, he is finally reunited with his brothers and Draupadi to enjoy perpetual bliss.
"The feud constitutes little more than a fifth of the total work and may once have formed a separate poem, the Bharata. Interwoven with its episodes are the romance of Nala and Damayanti; the legend of Savitri, whose devotion to her dead husband persuades Yama, the god of death, to restore him to life; descriptions of places of pilgrimages; and many other myths and legends.
"Above all, the Mahabharata is an exposition on dharma (codes of conduct), including the proper conduct of a king, of a warrior, of a man living in times of calamity, and of a person seeking to attain emancipation from rebirth. The several centuries during which the epic took shape were a period of transition from the religion of Vedic sacrifice to the sectarian, internalized worship of later Hinduism, and different sections of the poem express varying and sometimes contradictory beliefs. Some sections, such as the Narayaniya (a part of Book XIII), the Bhagavadgita (Book VI), the Anugita (Book XIV), and the later supplement, the Harivamsha, are important sources of early Vaisnavite thought. There Krishna is identified with Lord Vishnu, and other avataras (incarnations) are also described.
"The Mahabharata story has been retold in written and oral vernacular versions throughout South and Southeast Asia and has always enjoyed immense popularity. Its various incidents have been portrayed in stone, notably in sculptured reliefs at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in Cambodia, and in Indian miniature paintings."
FAMILY CHART. For a chart of the various characters portrayed in Peter Brook's film version of the Mahabharata, see the Family-Character Chart.
Gloria Floren, Letters Department,
MiraCosta College,
One Barnard Drive, Oceanside, California 92056. U.S.A.
E-mail: ENGLISH→engl201@miracosta.edu
| FILM→film101@miracosta.edu
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Created
February 2000. Revised 18 September 2003. Contents Copyright
2000-2001 Gloria L. Floren. All rights reserved
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