INTRODUCTION

TO THE
MAHABHARATA
Prepared by:
Hizon, Princess Dara P.
Tan, Ma. Carlota M.
SOME FACTS
 The Mahabharata has the honor of being the longest epic in world literature,
100,000 couplets (200,000 individual lines) in about 1.8 million words.
 8 x larger than the lliad and the Odyssey combined.

 15x longer than the Bible.

 Only about 4000 lines relate to the main story; the rest contain additional
myths and teachings.
 Mahabharata is an important source of information on the development of
Hinduism between 400 BCE and 200 CE
THE TITLE
 The name means in Sanskrit: “Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty”

 Bharata was an early ancestor of both the Pandavas and kauravas

who fight each other in a great war. But the word is also used
generically for the India race, so the Mahabharata sometimes is
referred to as “the great story of India.”
STRUCTURE OF THE EPIC
 The work is divided into 18 books.
 The main narrative concerning the war is contained in the first ten
books.
The Mahabharata resembles a long
journey with many side roads and
detours.
SOME OF THE MAJOR
‘DETOURS’
 Bhagavad Gita (Krishna instructs and teaches Arjuna.)
 Damayanti (or Nala and Damayanti, a love story.)
 Krishnavatara (the story of Krishna)
 Rama (an abbreviated version of the Ramayana.)
 Rishyasringa (also written as Rshyashrnga, the horned boy and
rishi.)
 Vishnu sahasranama (the most famous hymn to Vishnu, which
describes His 1000 names.)
CONCEPTS FROM THE
MAHABHARATA
 In its scope, the Mahabharata is more than simply a story of kings
and princes, sages and wise men, demons and gods; its author,
Vyasa, says that one of its aims is expounding the Four Goals of
Life:
 Kama (pleasure)
 Artha (wealth)
 Dharma (duty)
 Moksha (liberation)
 Karma also play an integral role in the Mahabharata.