Mahabharata: Encyclopedia II - Mahabharata - The Mahabharata the epic story

Mahabharata - The Mahabharata the epic story

The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kauravas, the elder branch of the family, and the Pandavas, the younger branch.

The struggle culminates leading to the Great battle of Kurukshetra, and the Pandavas are ultimately victorious. The Mahabharata itself ends with the death of Krishna, and the subsequent end of his dynasty, and ascent of the Pandava brothers to Heaven. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age of Kali (Kali Yuga), through the steady breakdown of truths of which the eighteen-day war of Kurukshetra, the clash of hundreds of thousands of men, elephants and horses, consisted. This is the fourth and final age of mankind, where the great values and noble ideas that humanity represented have crumbled, and man is speedily heading toward the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue in general. (Note that four such yugas - Satya (Truth), Dwāpar (second), Treta (third) and Kāli (dark) - comprise one cycle of 4.32-million years and represent {1/1000} of Brahmā's (God's) day or kalp. After a full kalp, all material and celestial abodes are in a suspended state within Brahmā as Brahmā 'sleeps' in the kalp-pralaya ('night') of {1,000 * 4.32-million years} 4.32-billion years. For the next kalp, they are created again as they were at the end of the previous kalp. In this way, Brahmā lives for 50 years (each year being 360 kalp and 360 kalp-pralaya). In human terms, Brahmā's age is 155.521972 trillion years. References from the Bhāgwatam 12/4/2 to 12/4/6.)

Some of the history's most noble and revered figures end up fighting on the side of the Kauravas, due to allegiances formed prior to the conflict.

Mahabharata - Stories

A list of short descriptions of some of the characters and stories:

• Karna, one of the greatest heroes of Mahabharat, known for his loyalty and philanthropy, is one of the central characters of the struggle. Originally son of the Sun and Kunti, eldest of the Pandavas, was born when Kunti tries a magic spell given to her by Sage Dhurvasa. His origins were lost since his mother, then unmarried, abandoned him from birth and he was taken in by a charioteer and his wife instead. During a tournament he had a bitter clash with Arjuna, his brother unknown to him, to ascertain that he was the ace archer and not Arjuna and became sworn enemies; Karna, then known as a charioteer's son, was not allowed to challenge Arjuna which was when the eldest Kaurava Prince Duryodhan makes Karna King by conferring a part of his kingdom. It is as a tribute to this friendship with Duryodhan that he ends up fighting for the Kauravas. Before the great battle, his birth was revealed to him, yet he forfeited his right for the throne choosing instead to fight for his friend Duryodhan and end his feud with Arjuna. Originally nearly invincible, he was first tricked into giving up the divine armour he was born with, then using up his divine lance which never fails to kill, and foreswearing from using another lethal weapon, the Nagastra, more than once, and finally forgets the secret phrase for evoking Brahmastra, the ultimate weapon as he was cursed the day he got it from the sage, Parashurama. His defeat and death more or less ended the war as he was fated to do so. When the Pandavas see Kunti crying over Karna's corpse they understand who he is. Yudhishtira, upset with Kunti having kept his birth a secret all along, curses womanhood that no woman will ever be able to keep a secret again in her life.

• Bhishma, the grandsire who had renounced his kingdom and become celibate for the sake of his father, King Shantanu's love of a boatman's foster daughter. His father was so moved by this deed that he blessed Bhishma to be able to choose his time of death. Bhishma had sworn that he would not die until he knew that Hastinapur was secure and would serve all the kings of Hastinapur the same way he served his father. This oath was the only reason he was the commander of the Kaurava army inspite of his love for the Pandavas. He ended up dying on a bed of arrows laid by his most favorite Arjuna, the Pandava brother whose army had fought against Bhishma's side.

• Bhima is one of the five Pandava brothers whose strength, size, and loyalty is legendary. He was a fierce fighter from childhood and never a coward. He respected Lord Krishna very much and never went against his wishes. *Madhvacharya is believed to be a reincarnation of him.
• Yudishtira, the eldest Pandava, is known never to have told a single lie in his life, and was known as Dharmaputra, because he was born to Kunti by the grace of Yama, the God of Death, who is also known as Dharmaraja, or the God of Righteousness. Nearing the final days of the war, Drona, a general of fabulous power was wreaking havoc amongst the Pandava ranks. None could defeat him. Duryodhana repeatedly kept accusing his Commander-in-chief, Drona, that he was not fighting at his best because of his love for the Pandavas. Irked by these accusations, Drona, who had then been fighting within the rules of a Dharmayuddha or righteous war, using fair means, started using unfair means - he started using celestial/divine weapons on ordinary soldiers.
  In desperation, a plan was hatched to inform Drona that his son Ashwatthama had been killed. Krishna, the author of the plan reasoned that Drona would lose the will to live on hearing this terrible news and would throw down his weapons. Bhima, one of the Pandava brothers, brought his mace down on the head of a huge war elephant called Ashwatthama and it fell dead. Going near the division commanded by Drona, he roared, "I have killed Ashwatthama!"
  Drona asked Yudhishtira if this was true, thinking that Yudhishtira would not utter an untruth even for the kingship of the three worlds. Yudhishtira stood trembling in horror of what he was about to do, but coaxed by Lord Krishna that there was no harm in doing such a deed to win the war between good and evil. "Let it be my sin", he said to himself and hardened his heart and said aloud: "Yes, it is true that Ashwatthama has been killed." But, as he was saying it, he felt again the disgrace of it and added in a low and tremulous voice, "Ashwatthama, the elephant" - words which were however drowned in the din and unheard by Drona.
  When the words of untruth came out of Yudhishtira's mouth, the wheels of his chariot, which until then always stood and moved four inches above the ground, came down and touched the common road of mankind. Yudishtira is commonly known in India as the paragon of integrity, fallen for his one lapse.
  Drona on hearing that his son had been slain sat on the floor of his chariot in yogic meditation. At this moment, Dhrishtadyumna (Brother-in-law of the Pandavas) climbed into the chariot with drawn sword and heedless of the cries of horror and deprecation from all around, fulfilled his destiny as the slayer of Drona by sweeping off the old warrior's head. And the soul of the son of Bharadwaja issued out in a visible blaze of light and mounted heavenwards. - Paraphrased from C Rajagopalachari's translation of the Mahabharata

Mahabharata - Structure

The Mahabharata is written in eighteen parvas (chapters or books) which are:

1. Adiparva - Introduction, birth and upbringing of the princes. (Adi = first).
2. Sabhaparva - Life at the court, the game of dice, and the exile of the Pandavas. Maya Danava erects the palace and court (sabha), at Indraprastha.
3. Aranyakaparva (also Vanaparva, Aranyaparva) - The twelve years in exile in the forest (aranya).
4. Virataparva - The year in exile spent at the court of Virata.
5. Udyogaparva - Preparations for war.
6. Bhishmaparva - The first part of the great battle, with Bhishma as commander for the Kauravas.
7. Dronaparva - The battle continues, with Drona as commander.
8. Karnaparva - The battle again, with Karna as commander.
9. Shalyaparva - The last part of the battle, with Shalya as commander.
10. Sauptikaparva - How Ashvattama and the remaining Kauravas killed the Pandava army in their sleep (Sauptika).
11. Striparva - Gandhari and the other women lament the dead (stri = woman).
12. Shantiparva - The crowning of Yudhisthira, and his instructions from Bhishma (shanti = peace).
13. Anushasanaparva - The final instructions of Bhishma (anushasana = instruction).
14. Ashvamedhikaparva - The royal ceremony or ashvameda conducted by Yudhisthira.
15. Ashramavasikaparva - Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti leave for an ashram, and eventual death in the forest.
16. Mausalaparva - The infighting between the Yadavas with maces (mausala).
17. Mahaprasthanikaparva - The first part of the path to death of Yudhisthira and his brothers (mahaprasthana, the great journey = death).
18. Svargarohanaparva - The Pandavas return to the spiritual world (svarga = heaven).

There also exists an appendix of 16,375 verses, the Harivamsaparva, which focuses specifically on the life of Lord Krishna.

Among the principal works and stories that are a part of the Mahabharata are the following. They are often isolated and presented as works complete in and of themselves.

1. Bhagavad Gita (Krishna instructs and teaches Arjuna. Bhishmaparva.)
2. Damayanti (or Nala and Damayanti, a love story. Aranyakaparva.)
3. Krishnavatara (the story of Krishna, the Krishna Leela, which is woven through many chapters of the story)
4. Rama (an abbreviated version of the Ramayana. Aranyakaparva.)
5. Rishyasringa (also written as Rshyashrnga, the horned boy and rishi. Aranyakaparva.)
6. Vishnu sahasranama (the most famous hymn to Vishnu, which describes His 1000 names; Anushasanaparva.)

During the 20th century, scholars have used the earliest existing copies of the work in their regional variations, to develop a composite reference work known as the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata. This project was completed in 1966 at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.

Mahabharata - Modern Mahabharata

The Mahabharata claims to contain the essence and sum of all the Vedas and other Hindu scriptures. It does include large amounts of interpolated Hindu mythology, cosmological stories of the gods and goddesses, and philosophical parables aimed at students of Hindu philosophy. The stories are commonly told to children, at religious functions, or around the house.

In the late 1980s, the Mahabharata (IMDb entry) was televised and shown on India's national TV (Doordarshan). Directed by B. R. Chopra, it was immensely popular, so much so that streets were deserted when it was telecast and even Cabinet meetings were re-scheduled so that Ministers could watch it. The Mahabharata is arguably familiar to the vast majority of Hindus living in the Indian subcontinent, if not abroad.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Mahabharata the epic story", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki