The length of the Mahabharata (India)

What we have today as the Mahabharata is a fragment of the epic that was originally conceived.
In the Mahabharata itself it is stated that in the first stage, Vyasa originally conceived 24,000
verses in his mind and called it the Bharata. It was probably the earliest version, or the rough
draft. Later he added to it another 150 verses as an introduction or prologue. He taught the early
version first to his son Suka and later to some of his disciples.
Afterwards, knowing that the intelligence levels differed in each sphere, he created four different
versions of the work with a total of 6,000,000 verses. Of them the first version consisting of
3,000,000 verses was communicated to the gods in heaven (devlok). The second version
consisting of 1,500,000 version was communicated to the ancestors in the world of ancestors
(pitrlok), and the third version consisting of 1,400,000 verses was communicated in the world of
celestial beings (gandharvalok). Finally, due to the limitations of the human knowledge and
intellect, the fourth version consisting of only 100,000 verses was communicated to the humans
in the mortal world.
In today's world, the 100,000 may also be too much for the people to read. You can count on your
fingers the number of people who might have completely read the original Mahabharata of
100,000 verses. Due to lack of time, nowadays many people get their knowledge of the epics
from movies and television serials. These modern formats do render a good service. They
introduce the epics to the people, who are otherwise disinterested to know them. However, since
they are made with a commercial motive, they do not do full justice to the story. For example, the
current television serial, Mahabharat, presents the story with a lot of glitter and glamour but with
little reverence for the original intent and purpose of the epic. If you love the original, you will not
be happy to watch it because it numbs your senses with Hollywood imagery and presents the
characters in Greco-Roman styles as if to make people believe that there was an invasion of fair
skinned Aryans in ancient India from the West and they resembled more like the Bollywod crowd
from Mumbai. If Hinduism has to survive and maintain its purity, we have to preserve the integrity
of the ancient history of India and the unique identity of its ancient civilization. We must not be
ashamed of how we look or what faith we practice.

Mahabharata:
Great and glorious is the land of Bharata. To describe the deeds of the dynasty of Bharata that
Vyasa wrote The Mahabharata. No where on earth is to be seen such a lengthy poetic-work as
the Mahabharata. It contains one lakh ten thousand slokas.
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Mahabharata was viewed in those days as a (religious) text of History. According to some
authorities, the essence of different philosophies of the Vedas and Upanishads were presented
in shape of interesting themes, episodes and stories for the understanding of the common
people. As a store-house of knowledge Vyasa’s Mahabharata has influenced the Indian thought
through centuries of time. Man and woman, the old and the young, the learned and the illiterate,
all sections of people of the Indian sub-continent knew the theme of Mahabharata since time
immemorial.
Vyasa’s Mahabharata begins with the story of the rule of the kings of the “Lunar Dynasty” at
Hastinapur. A virtuous monarch of that dynasty named Santanu had a son named Bhishma,
who was ever truthful and ever valorous. King Santanu had two other sons from his another
queen named Satyabati. They were Bichitrabirya and Chitrangada. True to his vow Bhishma did
not accept the throne after the death of his father and remained a bachelor for life. The
kingdom, therefore, was ruled by Bichitrabirya.
This king had two sons named Dhrutarastra and Pandu. Since the elder Dhrutarastra was blind
from his birth, his younger brother Pandu ascended the throne after the death of his father.
Pandu had five sons named as Yudhisthir, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadev. They were
known as the Pandavas. On the other hand, the hundred sons of Dhrutarastra were known as
the Kauravas as the descendants of the former king of the dynasty named Kuru. Duryodhan
was the first among the sons of Dhrutarastra.
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After the death of king Pandu his five sons were given one portion of the kingdom to rule. Inside
a forest called Khandava, the Pandava brothers built their capital and named it as Indraprastha.
This caused envy in the mind of the Kaurava brothers. They therefore invited the Pandava
brothers to play the game of Dice with them with bet over victory or defeat.
Playing with trick, the Kauravas defeated the Pandava king Yudhisthira again and again.
According to the bet the defeated brothers agreed to live the life of exiles in forests for twelve
years, and thereafter to spend one more year in disguise to escape detection.
At the end of their ordeal for thirteen years the Pandava brothers returned and asked the
Kauravas their kingdom. But the Kaurava king Duryodhan refused to give back their territory
saying that he would not give even a particle of earth without battle. Because of this injustice a
fierce battle was fought between the Pandavas and Kauravas in the field of Kurukshetra. Many
kings of India joined either the Kauravas or the Pandavas to take part in the war.
The field of Kurukshetra was also described as the Dharmakshetra because it saw the eternal
conflict between virtue and vice, righteousness and wrong-doing, between the just and the
unjust. At the end of the battle it was seen that all the Kaurava brothers were dead along with
most of their supporters. The Pandava side also lost many relations, including Abhimanyu, the
son of Arjuna, the greatest warrior of the battle.
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Winning victory in Kurukshetra battle, the Pandavas got the whole kingdom and Yudhisthira
became king. But, in deep repentance over the death of his kith and kin and in order to do
penance, Yudhisthira left the throne in the hands of Parikshita, the son of dead Abhimanyu, and
left for the Himalayas with his four brothers and wife.
With this central theme Vyasa added many legends, traditions, Puranic episodes, accounts of
other royal dynasties, as well as descriptions of prevailing socio-religious systems, customs and
manners, moral values, political conditions, traditions of war and diplomacy, and faiths and
beliefs of the people. The Mahabharata described the virtues of vigour for worldly existence as
well as of the higher ideals of the life like truthfulness and righteousness. At several places
Vyasa included deeper philosophies and spiritual thoughts to create awareness about man’s
divine existence.
The Indian humanity has derived from the Mahabharata much inspirations for ages. The lessons
of this great epic have enabled man to overcome the sorrows, sufferings, distress and
misfortunes in their worldly existence. In the entire world literature there is no other work comp

Aeneid (Rome)
ROMAN MYTHOLOGY

Aeneas, mythical hero of Troy and Rome, son of the goddess Aphrodite and Anchises. Aeneas
was a member of the royal line at Troy and cousin of Hector. He played a prominent part in
defending his city against the Greeks during the Trojan War, being second only to Hector in
ability. Homer implies that Aeneas did not like his subordinate position, and from that suggestion
arose a later tradition that Aeneas helped to betray Troy to the Greeks. The more common
version, however, made Aeneas the leader of the Trojan survivors after Troy was taken by the
Greeks. In any case, Aeneas survived the war, and his figure was thus available to compilers of
Roman myth.

The association of Homeric heroes with Italy and Sicily goes back to the 8th century BCE—
when Homer’s epic poems likely became written texts—and the Greek colonies founded there in
that and the next century frequently claimed descent from leaders in the Trojan
War. Legend connected Aeneas, too, with certain places and families, especially in the region
of Latium. As Rome expanded over Italy and the Mediterranean, its patriotic writers began to
construct a mythical tradition that would at once dignify their land with antiquity and satisfy a
latent dislike of Greek cultural superiority. The fact that Aeneas, as a Trojan, represented an
enemy of the Greeks and that tradition left him free after the war made him peculiarly fit for the
part assigned him—i.e., the founding of Roman greatness.
It was Virgil who, during the 1st century BCE, gave the various strands of legend related to
Aeneas the form they have possessed ever since. The family of Julius Caesar, and
consequently of Virgil’s patron Augustus, claimed descent from Aeneas, whose
son Ascanius was also called Iulus. Incorporating these different traditions, Virgil created his
masterpiece, the Aeneid, the Latin epic poem whose hero symbolized not only the course and
aim of Roman history but also the career and policy of Augustus himself. In the journeying of
Aeneas from Troy westward to Sicily, Carthage, and finally to the mouth of the Tiber in Italy,
Virgil portrayed the qualities of persistence, self-denial, and obedience to the gods that, to the
poet, built Rome.

The Aeneid (written c. 29–19 BCE) tells in 12 books of the legendary foundation
of Lavinium (parent town of Alba Longa and of Rome) by Aeneas. When Troy fell to the Greeks,
Virgil recounts, Aeneas, who had fought bravely to the last, was commanded by Hector in a
vision to flee and to found a great city overseas. Aeneas gathered his family and followers and
took the household gods (small images) of Troy, but, in the confusion of leaving the burning city,
his wife disappeared. Her ghost informed him that he was to go to a western land where
the Tiber River flowed. He then embarked upon his long voyage, touching at Thrace, Crete, and
Sicily and meeting with numerous adventures that culminated in shipwreck on the coast of
Africa near Carthage. There he was received by Dido, the widowed queen, to whom he told his
story. They fell in love, and he lingered there until he was sharply reminded by Mercury that
Rome was his goal. Guilty and wretched, he immediately abandoned Dido, who committed
suicide, and Aeneas sailed on until he finally reached the mouth of the Tiber. There he was well
received by Latinus, the king of the region, but other Italians, notably Latinus’s wife and Turnus,
leader of the Rutuli, resented the arrival of the Trojans and the projected marriage alliance
between Aeneas and Lavinia, Latinus’s daughter. War broke out, but the Trojans were
successful and Turnus was killed. Aeneas then married Lavinia and founded Lavinium.
Aeneas’s character as portrayed by Virgil is not only that of a heroic warrior. In addition, he
guides his life by obedience to divine command, to which he sacrifices his own natural
inclinations. It is in this sense that the Latin epithet pius, so frequently applied to him in
the Aeneid, is to be understood.
The death of Aeneas is described by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. After he had fallen in battle
against the Rutuli, his body could not be found, and he was thereafter worshiped as a local god
called, according to Livy, Juppiter indiges.

Summary Gilgamesh (Mesopotania)

Gilgamesh is the wisest, strongest, and most handsome of mortals, for he is two-thirds god and
one-third man. As king of the city-state of Uruk he builds a monumental wall around the city, but
in doing so he overworks the city’s inhabitants unmercifully, to the point where they pray to the
gods for relief.
The god Anu hears their plea and calls the goddess Aruru to fashion another demigod like
Gilgamesh in order that the two heroes might fight and thus give Uruk peace. Aruru creates the
warrior Engidu out of clay and sends him to live among the animals of the hills. A hunter of Uruk
finds Engidu and in terror reports his existence to Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh advises the hunter to
take a priest to Engidu’s watering place to lure Engidu to the joys of civilization and away from
his animal life. The priest initiates Engidu into civilization with her body, her bread, and her wine.
Having forsaken his animal existence, Engidu and the priest start for Uruk. On their arrival she
tells him of the strength and wisdom of Gilgamesh and of how Gilgamesh told the goddess
Ninsun about his dreams of meeting Engidu, his equal, in combat.
Engidu challenges Gilgamesh by barring his way to the temple. An earth-shaking fight ensues in
which Gilgamesh stops Engidu’s onslaught. Engidu praises Gilgamesh’s strength and the two
enemies became inseparable friends. Gilgamesh informs Engidu of his wish to conquer the
terrible monster, Khumbaba, and challenges him to go along. Engidu replies that the
undertaking is full of peril for both. Gilgamesh answers that Engidu’s fear of death deprives him
of his might. At last Engidu agrees to go with his friend. Gilgamesh then goes to the elders and
they, like Engidu, warn him of the perils he will encounter. Seeing his determination, the elders
give him their blessing. Gilgamesh then goes to Ninsun and she also warns him of the great
dangers, but to no avail. Then she takes Engidu aside and tells him to give Gilgamesh special
protection.
Upon climbing the cedar mountain to reach Khumbaba, Gilgamesh relates three terrible dreams
to Engidu, who shores up Gilgamesh’s spirit by placing a favorable interpretation on them. On
reaching the gate to the cedar wood where Khumbaba resides, the pair are stopped by the
watchman, who possesses seven magic mantles. The two heroes succeed in overcoming him.
Accidentally, Engidu touches the magic portal of the gate; immediately he feels faint and weak,
as if afraid of death. The champions enter the cedar wood and, with the aid of the sun god, slay
Khumbaba.
Upon their return to Uruk after their victory, the goddess Ishtar falls in love with Gilgamesh and
asks him to be her consort. Gilgamesh, being wiser than her previous consorts, recalls...
Summary El Cid Campeador (Spain)

By royal edict, the Cid is banished from Christian Spain by King Alfonso VI of Castile. The royal
edict allows him nine days in which to leave the kingdom but forbids him from taking with him
any of his wealth and goods. Any man in the kingdom who offers aid to the Cid will forfeit his
estate. Nevertheless, the Cid enlists the aid of Martín Antolinez in swindling two moneylenders,
Raquel and Vidas, in exchange for two large sealed coffers, supposedly loaded with the Cid’s
riches but containing only sand. The Cid and a small force of vassals then ride away and make
a secret camp. On the morning of the Cid’s actual departure from the country, with a fair-sized
group of loyal vassals, Mass is said for all at the abbey where Doña Ximena, the Cid’s wife, and
his two infant daughters, Doña Elvira and Doña Sol, have been ordered to remain.
Becoming a soldier of fortune, the knight leads his host in conquest of one Moorish territory after
another, each time generously sharing the spoils and booty among his knights and vassals,
even the lowliest. Thus he builds up a larger and stronger force with every foray, and after each
victory Mass is said in thanksgiving. The Cid fights his way to the eastern side of the peninsula,
where he fights his most crucial battle and wins his greatest victory when he takes as his
prisoner Count Ramón of Barcelona. After Count Ramón has been humbled and forced to give
up all his property, he is granted his liberty.
Although Minaya Alvar Fáñez returns to King Alfonso with gifts and a glowing report of the Cid’s
successes, the king does not revoke his decree of banishment. Minaya’s estates are restored,
however, and he was granted freedom to come and go without fear of attack. The Cid continues
his campaigns against the Moorish territories in order to increase his favor with King Alfonso.
After he has conquered the provinces of Valencia and Seville, however, his men grow tired of
fighting, and many wish to return to Castile. The Cid, although still generous and understanding,
proves himself master by threatening all deserters with death.
Again the Cid sends Minaya to King Alfonso, this time with a gift of one hundred horses and a
request that Doña Ximena and her daughters be permitted to join him in Valencia. Visibly
softened by the Cid’s growing power, King Alfonso grants this request. In addition, he returns to
the Cid’s men their former estates.
Shortly after a triumphant reunion with his family in Valencia, the Cid overcomes the king of
Morocco. As a gesture of victory, he sends the Moroccan’s tent to King Alfonso. This dramatic
gift earns the Cid’s pardon as well as the king’s request that the Cid give his daughters in
marriage to Diego and Fernando, the princes of Carrión. At the victory feast, many marvel at the
great length and abundance of the Cid’s beard, for he had sworn at the time of his banishment
that his beard would never again be cut. The fullness of his beard has now taken on a mystical
significance related to the Cid’s power and success.
The Cid has reservations about giving his daughters to the princes of Carrión. His daughters
are, he thinks, too young for marriage. Also, he distrusts the two men. However, with a great
show of humbleness and subservience, he returns Doña Elvira...