Information AboutMahabharata |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MAHāBHāRATA | |
| mahabharata epic | |
| hindu texts | |
| sanskrit texts | |
| kurukshetra | |
For the film by Peter Brook , see The Mahabharata (1989 Film) . The '''' ( Epic s of Ancient India , the other being the '' Ramayana ''. With more than 74,000 verses, long prose passages, and about 1.8 million words in total, it is one of the longest Epic Poem s in the world.It is roughly ten times the size of the '' Iliad '' and '' Odyssey '' combined, and about four times the size of the '' Ramayana ''. The only epics claimed to be longer are the Tibetan '' Epic Of King Gesar '' and the Kyrgyz '' Epic Of Manas ''. Including the '' Harivamsa '', the ''Mahabharata'' has a total length of more than 90,000 verses. It is of immense importance to the culture of India and Nepal , and is a major text of Hinduism . Its discussion of human goals ( Artha or wealth, Kama or pleasure, Dharma or duty/harmony, and Moksha or liberation) takes place in a long-standing mythological tradition, attempting to explain the relationship of the individual to society and the world (the nature of the 'Self') and the workings of Karma . The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bharata Dynasty", according to the ''Mahābhārata'''s own testimony extended from a shorter version simply called ''Bhārata'' of 24,000 verses''bhārata'' means the progeny of '' Bharata '', the legendary king who founded the '' Bhāratavarsha '' Empire. The epic is part of the Hindu '' Itihāsa '', literally "that which happened", which includes the ''Ramayana'' and the . Traditionally, Hindus ascribe the ''Mahabharata'' to Vyasa . Due to its immense length, its philological study has a long history of attempts to unravel its historical growth and composition layers. Its earliest layers date back to the late Vedic Period (ca. 5th c. BCE) and it probably reached its final form in the early Gupta Period (ca. 4th c. CE). INFLUENCE With its depth and magnitude, the ''Mahabharata'''s scope is best summarized by one quotation from the beginning of its first ''parva'' (section): "What is found here, may be found elsewhere. What is not found here, will not be found elsewhere." In its scope, the ''Mahabharata'' is more than simply a story of kings and princes, sages and wise men, demons and gods. '' (duty),'' Artha '' (wealth),'' Kama '' (pleasure), and '' Moksha '' (liberation). The narrative culminates in Moksha , believed by Hindus to be the ultimate goal of human beings. Karma and Dharma play an integral role in the ''Mahabharata''. The ''Mahabharata'' includes aspects of Hinduism, stories of the gods and goddesses, and explanations of Hindu Philosophy . Among the principal works and stories that are a part of the ''Mahabharata'' are the following (often considered isolated as works in their own right):
TEXTUAL HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION It is undisputed that the full length of the ''Mahabharata'' has accreted over a long period. The ''Mahabharata'' itself (1.1.61) distinguishes a core portion of 24,000 verses, the ''Bharata'' proper, as opposed to additional secondary material, while the '' Ashvalayana Grhyasutra '' (3.4.4) makes a similar distinction. According to the ''Adi-parva'' of the ''Mahabharata'' ( Shloka s 81, 101-102), the text was originally 8,800 verses when it was composed by Vyasa and was known as the ''Jaya'' (Victory), which later became 24,000 verses in the ''Bharata'' recited by Vaisampayana , and finally over 90,000 verses in the ''Mahabharata'' recited by Ugrasravas. Subhash Kak . ''The Mahabharata and the Sindhu-Sarasvati Tradition'' (pg. 4-5). As with the field of Homeric Studies , research on the ''Mahabharata'' has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating various layers within the text. The complex structure had caused some early Western Indologist s to refer to it as chaotic. Oldenberg ( 1922 ) stipulated that the supposed original poem once carried an immense " Tragic force", but dismissed the full text as a "horrible chaos." The judgement of other early 20th century Indologists was even more condemning, Winternitz (''Geschichte der indischen Literatur'' 1909) opted that "only unpoetical theologists and clumsy scribes" could have lumped the various parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole. The earliest known references to the ''Mahabharata'' and its core ''Bharata'' date back to the 6th - 5th Century BC , in the '' Ashtadhyayi '' ( Sutra 6.2.38) of Pāṇini (c. 520-460 BC), and in the '' Ashvalayana Grhyasutra '' (3.4.4), while various characters from the epic are also mentioned in earlier Vedic Literature . This indicates that the core 24,000 verses, known as the ''Bharata'', as well as an early version of the extended ''Mahabharata'', were composed by the 6th-5th century BC, with parts of the ''Jaya'' The Greek writer 's ''History of Indian Literature'', has often been repeated without specific reference to what Dio's text says.For example, John Campbell Oman, ''The Great Indian Epics'' (London 1895), p. 215 . Later, the copper-plate inscription of the Maharaja Sharvanatha (533-534) from Khoh ( Satna District, Madhya Pradesh ) describes the ''Mahabharata'' as a "collection of 100,000 verses" (''shatasahasri samhita''). The Redaction of this large body of text was carried out after formal principles, emphasizing the numbers 1818 books, 18 chapters of the Bhagavadgita and the Narayaniya each, corresponding to the 18 days of the battle and the 18 armies (Mbh. 5.152.23) and 12. The addition of the latest parts may be dated by the absence of the ''Anushasana-parva'' from ''MS Spitzer'', the oldest surviving Sanskrit philosophical manuscript dated to the first century, that contains among other things a list of the books in the ''Mahabharata''. From this evidence, it is likely that the redaction into 18 books took place in the first century. An alternative division into 20 parvas appears to have co-existed for some time. The division into 100 sub-parvas (mentioned in Mbh. 1.2.70) is older, and most parvas are named after one of their constituent sub-parvas. The '' Harivamsa '' consists of the final two of the 100 sub-parvas, and was considered an appendix (''khila'') to the ''Mahabharata'' proper by the redactors of the 18 parvas. The division into 18 parvas is as follows: The Adi-parva is dedicated to the snake sacrifice (''sarpasattra'') of Janamejaya, explaining its motivation, detailing why all snakes in existence were intended to be destroyed, and why in spite of this, there are still snakes in existence. This sarpasattra material was often considered an independent tale added to a version of the ''Mahabharata'' by "thematic attraction" (Minkowski 1991), and considered to have particularly close connection to Vedic ( Brahmana literature), in particular the Panchavimsha Brahmana which describes the Sarpasattra as originally performed by snakes, among which are snakes named Dhrtarashtra and Janamejaya, two main characters of the ''Mahabharata'''s sarpasattra, and Takshaka, the name of a snake also in the ''Mahabharata''. The Shatapatha Brahmana gives an account of an Ashvamedha performed by Janamejaya Parikshita. According to Mbh. 1.1.50, there were three versions of the epic, beginning with ''Manu'' (1.1.27), ''Astika'' (1.3, sub-parva 5) or ''Vasu'' (1.57), respectively. These versions probably correspond to the addition of one and then another 'frame' settings of dialogues. The ''Vasu'' version corresponds to the oldest, without frame settings, beginning with the account of the birth of Vyasa. The Astika version adds the Sarpasattra and Ashvamedha material from Brahmanical literature, and introduces the name ''Mahabharata'' and identifies Vyasa as the work's author. The redactors of these additions were probably Pancharatrin scholars who according to Oberlies (1998) likely retained control over the text until its final redaction. Mention of the Huna in the ''Bhishma-parva'' however appears to imply that this parva may have been edited around the 4th century. HISTORICITY For historical context of the tale, see Kingdoms Of Ancient India . (Title and location names are in English .)]] Some people believe that "The epic's setting certainly has a historical precedent in Vedic India , where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power in the late 2nd and early 1st millennia BCE. A dynastic conflict of the period could very well have been the inspiration for the ''Jaya'', the core on which the Mahabharata corpus was built, and eventually the climactic battle came to be viewed as an epochal event. Dating this conflict relies almost exclusively on textual materials in the Mahabaharata itself and associated genealogical lists in the later Puranic Literature ." The evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshit (Arjuna's grandson) and the accession of Mahapadma Nanda, commonly dated to 382 BCE, which would lead to an estimate of about 1400 BCE for the Bharata battle.AD Pusalker, ''History and Culture of the Indian People'', Vol I, Chapter XIV, p.273 F.E. Pargiter rejected this because it would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings listed in the genealogies.FE Pargiter, ''Ancient Indian Historical Tradition'', p.180. He shows estimates of the average as 47, 50, 31 and 35 for various versions of the lists. Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda. Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging the lists of ten different dynasties, and assumed 18 years for the average duration of a reign to arrive at an estimate of 850 BCE for Adhisimakrishna, and thus approximately 950 BCE for the Bharata battle.Pargiter, ''op.cit.'' p.180-182 B. B. Lal used the same approach with a more conservative assumption of the average reign to estimate a date of 836 BCE, and correlated this with archaeological evidence from Painted Grey Ware sites, the association being strong between PGW artifacts and places mentioned in the epic.B. B. Lal, ''Mahabharata and Archaeology'' in Gupta and Ramachandran, ''Mahabharata: myth and reality'', p.57-58 Attempts to date the events using methods of Archaeoastronomy have produced, depending on which passages are chosen and how they are interpreted, estimates ranging from the late 4th to the mid 2nd millennium BCE.Gupta and Ramachandran, ''op.cit.'', p.246, who summarize as follows: "Astronomical calculations favor 15th century B.C. as the date of the war while the Puranic data place it in the 10th/9th century B.C. Archaeological evidence points towards the latter." (p.254) The late 4th millennium date has a precedent in the calculation of Aryabhata (6th century), based on planetary conjunctions. His date of February 18th 3102 BCE has become widespread in Indian tradition (for example, the Aihole Inscription of Pulikeshi II , dated to Saka 556 = 634 CE, claims that 3735 years have elapsed since the Bharata battle.Gupta and Ramachandran, p.55; AD Pusalker, HCIP, Vol I, p.272) Another traditional school of astronomers and historians, represented by Vriddha-Garga , Varahamihira (author of the ''Brhatsamhita'' ) and Kalhana (author of the '' Rajatarangini ''), place the Bharata war 653 years after the Kaliyuga epoch, corresponding to 2449 BCE.Ad Pusalker, ''op.cit.'' p.272 In discussing the dating questions historian A. L. Basham says: "According to the most popular later tradition the Mahabharata War took place in 3102 B.C., which in the light of all evidence, is quite impossible. More reasonable is another tradition, placing it in the 15th century B.C., but this is also several centuries too early in the light of our archaeological knowledge. Probably the war took place around the beginning of the 9th century B.C.; such a date seems to fit well with the scanty archaeological remains of the period, and there is some evidence in the Brahmana literature itself to show that it cannot have been much earlier."Basham, p. 40, citing HC Raychaudhuri, ''Political History of Ancient India'', pp.27ff. STRUCTURE AND AUTHORSHIP The epic employs the Story Within A Story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and secular works. It is recited to the King Janamejaya by Vaisampayana , a disciple of Vyasa . The epic is traditionally ascribed to Vyasa , who is also one of the major dynastic characters within the epic. The first section of the ''Mahabharata'' states that it was Ganesha who, at the behest of Vyasa, wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation. Ganesha is said to have agreed to write it only on condition that Vyasa never pause in his recitation. Vyasa agreed, providing that Ganesha took the time to understand what was said before writing it down. This also serves as a popular variation on the stories of how Ganesha's right tusk was broken (a traditional part of Ganesha imagery). This version attributes it to the fact that, in the rush of writing, his pen failed, and he snapped off his tusk as a replacement in order that the transcription not be interrupted. SYNOPSIS 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 Kaurava , the elder branch of the family, and the Pandava , the younger branch, with the situation where Kaurava 's elder brother Duryodhana is younger than eldest brother of Pandava 's i.e. Yudhisthir , leading to conflict where both have the claims to the throne, citing themselves elder. The struggle culminates in the Great Battle Of Kurukshetra , in which the Pandavas are ultimately victorious. The battle produces complex conflicts of kinship and friendship, instances of family loyalty and duty taking precedence over what is right, as well as the converse. 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 ), the fourth and final age of mankind, where the great values and noble ideas have crumbled, and man is heading toward the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue. The elder generations Janamejaya's ancestor Shantanu , the king of Hastinapura has a short-lived marriage with the goddess Ganga and has a son, Devavrata (later to be called Bhishma ), who becomes the heir apparent. Satyavati is the daughter of a fisherman in the kingdom, and she already has a son, Vyasa . Many years later, when the king goes hunting, he sees her and asks to marry her. Her father refuses to consent to the marriage unless Shantanu promises to make any future son of Satyavati the king upon his death. To solve the king's dilemma, Devavrata agrees not to take the throne. As the fisherman is not sure about the prince's children honouring the promise, Devavrata also takes a vow of lifelong celibacy to guarantee his father's promise. Shantanu has two sons by Satyavati, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya . Upon Shantanu's death, Chitrangada becomes king. After his death Vichitravirya rules Hastinapura . In order to arrange the marriage of the young Vichitravirya, Bhishma goes to Kashi for a Swayamvara of the three princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. He wins them, and Ambika and Ambalika are married to Vichtravirya. The Pandava and Kaurava princes , Karnataka ]] Vichitravirya died young without any heirs. Satyavati then asked her first son Vyasa to go to Vichitravirya's widows and give them the divine vision of giving birth to son's without losing their chastity. Vyasa fathered the royal children Dhritarashtra , who is born blind, and Pandu , who is born pale. Through a maid of the widows, he also fathers their commoner half-brother Vidura . Pandu marries twice, to Kunti and Madri . Dhritarashtra is married to Gandhari , who blindfolds herself when she finds she has been married to a blind man. Pandu takes the throne because of Dhritarashtra's blindness. Pandu while out hunting deer, is however cursed that if he engages in a sexual act, he will die. He then retires to the forest along with his two wives, and his brother rules thereafter, despite his blindness. Pandu's elder queen Kunti however, asks the gods Dharma , Vayu , and Indra for sons, by using a boon granted by Durvasa. She gives birth to three sons Yudhishtira , Bhima , and Arjuna through these gods. Kunti shares her boon with the younger queen Madri , who bears the twins Nakula and Sahadeva through the Ashwini twins. However Pandu and Madri, unable to resist temptation, indulge in sex and die in the forest, and Kunti returns to Hastinapura to raise her sons, who are then usually referred to as the Pandava brothers. Dhritarashtra has a hundred sons through Gandhari , the Kaurava brothers, the eldest being Duryodhana , and the second Dushasana . There is rivalry between the sets of cousins, from their youth and into manhood. Laakshagriha (The House of Wax) Duryodhana plots to get rid of the Pandavas and tries to kill the Pandavas secretly by setting fire to their palace which he had made of Lac . However, the Pandavas are warned by their uncle, Vidura, who sends them a miner to dig a tunnel. They are able to escape to safety and go into hiding, but after leaving others behind, whose bodies are mistaken for them. Bhishma goes to the river Ganga to perform the last rites of the people found dead in the burned palace, understood to be Pandavas. Vidura then informs him that the Pandavas are alive and to keep the secret to himself. Draupadi In course of this exile the Pandavas are informed of a Swayamvara , a marriage competition, which is taking place for the hand of the Panchala princess Draupadi . The Pandavas enter the competition in disguise as Brahmins. The task is to string a mighty steel bow and shoot a target on the ceiling while looking at its reflection in water below. Most of the princes fail, being unable to lift the bow. Arjuna, however, succeeds. When he returns with his bride, Arjuna goes to his mother, saying, "Mother, I have brought alms!". Kunti, not noticing the princess, tells Arjuna that whatever he has won must be shared with his brothers. To ensure that their mother never utters a falsehood, the brothers take her as a common wife. In some interpretations, Draupadi alternates months or years with each brother. At this juncture they also meet Krishna , who would become their lifelong ally and guide. Actually the reason behind Draupadi having 5 husbands is told that in her previous birth she performs severe penances to please Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appears before her & says he will bestows her a boon. Draupadi says she wants a husband who is amster archerer, the epitome of truth, the be very handsome, pateint and very stong. Since all these qualities can't be dound in one person, Shiva says that she will have 5 virtuous husbands in her next birth. Indraprastha After the wedding, the Pandava brothers are invited back to Hastinapura. The Kuru family elders and relatives negotiate and broker a split of the kingdom, with the Pandavas obtaining a new territory. Yudhishtira has a new capital built for this territory at Indraprastha . Neither the Pandava nor Kaurava sides are happy with the arrangement however. Shortly after this, Arjuna marries Subhadra . Yudhishtira wishes to establish his position; he seeks Krishna's advice. Krishna advises him, and after due preparation and the elimination of some opposition, Yudhishthira carries out a Rajasuya Yagna ceremony; he is thus recognised as pre-eminent among kings. The Pandavas have a new palace built for them, by Maya the Danava . They invite their Kaurava cousins to Indraprastha. Duryodhana walks round the palace, and mistakes a glossy floor for water, and will not step in. After being told of his error, he then sees a pond, and assumes it is not water and falls in. Draupadi laughs at him, and he is humiliated. The dice game Sakuni, Duryodhana's uncle, now arranges a dice game, playing against Yudhishtira with loaded dice. Yudhishtira loses all his wealth, then his kingdom. He then even gambles his brothers, then his wife, and finally himself, into servitude. The jubilant Kauravas insult the Pandavas in their helpless state and even try to disrobe Draupadi in front of the entire court. Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, and the other elders are aghast at the situation, and negotiate a compromise. The Pandavas are required to go into exile for 13 years, and for the 13th year must remain hidden. If discovered by the Kauravas, they will be forced into exile for another 12 years. Exile and return The Pandavas spend twelve years in exile. Many adventures occur during this time. They also prepare alliances for a possible future conflict. They spend their final year in disguise in the court of Virata , and are discovered at or after the end of the year. At the end of their exile, they try to negotiate a return to Indraprastha. However, this fails, as Duryodhana objects that they were discovered while in hiding, and that no return of their kingdom was agreed. War becomes inevitable. The battle at Kurukshetra See Also: Kurukshetra war The two sides summon vast armies to their help, and line up at Kurukshetra for a war. The Kingdoms of Panchala , Dwaraka , Kasi , Kekaya , Magadha , Matsya , Chedi , Pandya and the Yadu s of Mathura and some other clans like the Parama Kambojas were allied with the Pandava s. The allies of the Kaurava s included the kings of Pragjyotisha, Anga , Kekaya , Sindhudesa (including Sindhu s, Sauviras and Sivis), Mahishmati, Avanti in Madhyadesa, Madra , Gandhara , Bahlikas , Kambojas and many others. Prior to war being declared, Balarama , had expressed his unhappiness at the developing conflict, and left to go on Pilgrimage , thus he does not take part in the battle itself. Krishna takes part in a non-combatant role, as charioteer for Arjuna. Before the battle, Arjuna, seeing himself facing great-uncle Bhishma and his teacher Drona on the other side, has doubts about the battle and he fails to lift his Gandiva bow. Krishna wakes him up to his call of duty in the famous Bhagavad Gita section of the epic. Though initially sticking to chivalrous notions of warfare, both sides soon adopt into dishonourable tactics. At the end of the 18-day battle, only the Pandavas, Satyaki, Ashwathama and Krishna survive. The end of the Pandavas After seeing the carnage, Gandhari who had lost all her sons, curses Krishna to be a witness to a similar annihilation of his family, for though divine and capable of stopping the war, he had not done so. Krishna accepts the curse, which bears fruit 36 years later. The Pandavas who had ruled their kingdom meanwhile, decide to renounce everything. Clad in skins and rags they retire to the Himalaya and climb towards heaven in their bodily form. A stray dog travels with them. One by one the brothers and Draupadi fall on their way. As each one stumbles, Yudhishitra gives the rest the reason for their fall (Draupadi was partial to Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were vain and proud of their looks, Bhima and Arjuna were proud of their strength and archery skills, respectively). Only the virtuous Yudhisthira who had tried everything to prevent the carnage and the dog remain. The dog reveals himself to be the god Dharma, who reveals the nature of the test and assures Yudhishtra that his fallen siblings and wife are in heaven. Yudhisthira alone reaches heaven in his bodily form for being just and humble. Arjuna's grandson Parikshita rules after them and dies bitten by a snake. His furious son, Janamejaya, decides to perform a snake sacrifice ('' Sarpasattra '') in order to destroy the snakes. It is at this sacrifice that the tale of his ancestors is narrated to him. VERSIONS, TRANSLATIONS, AND DERIVATIVE WORKS Many regional versions of the work developed over time, mostly differing only in minor details, or with verses or subsidiary stories being added. These include some versions from outside the Indian subcontinent, such as the Kakawin Bharatayuddha from Java . Critical Edition Between 1919 and 1966, the scholars at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute , Pune , compared the various manuscripts of the epic from India and abroad and produced the ''Critical Edition'' of the ''Mahabharata'', on 13,000 pages in 19 volumes, followed by the Harivamsha in another 2 volumes and 6 index volumes. This is the text that is usually used in current ''Mahabharata'' studies for reference. Bhandarkar Institute, Pune —Virtual Pune This work is sometimes called the 'Pune' or 'Poona' edition of the Mahabharata. Modern Interpretations from Karnataka which is based largely on stories of Mahabharata]] The acclaimed Kannada novelist S.L. Bhyrappa wrote a novel in Kannada (Translated to most of the Indian languages and English) titled ''Parva'', giving new interpretation to the story of Mahabharata. He carried years of research where Mahabharata happened, in the plains of North India , Uttarakhand and Garwal region in particular. He tried to understand the social and ethical practices in these regions and correlating with the story of Mahabharata. He gave a realistic, rational explanation of the characters and events of Mahabharata. In the late 1980s, the . It was also shown in the UK by the BBC , where it achieved audience figures of 5 million, unheard of for a subtitled series being aired in the afternoon. Epic Hindi Language Series Mahabharat Launches Exclusively on Rogers OMNI Television Channels In Ontario and British Columbia In the West , the most acclaimed and well known presentation of the epic is Peter Brook ’s nine hour play premiered in Avignon in 1985 and its five hour movie version ''The Mahabharata'' (1989) (1989 mini-series), which was shown on other TV networks, including PBS (through the " Great Performances " show) and Danmarks Radio (credited in the movie's credits). However, there have been film versions of the ''Mahabharata'' long before these two versions, the earliest of which was shown in 1920. (1920 film). Another upcoming Indian film version '' The Mahabharata '' is currently in production. Among literary reinterpretations of the Mahabharata the most famous is arguably Sashi Tharoor 's major work entitled " The Great Indian Novel ", an involved literary, philosophical, and political novel which superimposes the major moments of post-Independence India in the 20th century onto the driving events of the Mahabharata epic. An acclaimed book, "The Great Indian Novel" also contemporized well-known characters of the epic into equally well-known politicians of the modern era (e.g. Indira Gandhi as the villainous Duryodhana ). Mahabharata was also reinterpreted by Shyam Benegal in Kalyug . Kalyug is a modern-day replaying of the Mahabharat, with the Pandava industrial family being locked in a titanic battle with their Kaurav rivals. But the times are different from the original Mahabharat's, and external forces impinge on feudal values causing disconcerting results. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2003/01/17/stories/2003011700990100.htm What makes Shyam special... Western interpretations of the Mahabharata include William Buck's ''Mahabharata'' and Elizabeth Seeger's ''Five Sons of King Pandu''. English Translations Lal version A poetic translation of the full epic into English, done by the poet P. Lal is complete, and in 2005 began being published by Writers Workshop , Calcutta. The P. Lal translation is a non-rhyming verse-by-verse rendering, and is the only edition in any language to include all slokas in all recensions of the work (not just those in the ''Critical Edition''). It is both poetic and swift to read, and is oriented to the oral/musical tradition in which the work was originally created. The completion of the publishing project is scheduled for 2008. Six of the eighteen volumes are now available: :Vol 1: Adi Parva, 1232 pages, 2005, ISBN 81-8157-370-6 :Vol 2: Sabha Parva, 520 pages, 2005, ISBN 81-8157-382-X :Vol 3: Vana Parva, 1580 pages, 2005, ISBN 81-8157-448-6 :Vol 4: Virata Parva, 400 pages, 2006 :Vol 5: Udyoga Parva, 970 pages, 2006, ISBN 81-8157-530-X :Vol 17: Mahaprasthana Parva, 30 pages, 2006 ISBN 81-8157-552-0 Clay Sanskrit Library version A project to translate the full epic into English prose, translated by various hands, began to appear in 2005 from the Clay Sanskrit Library , published by New York University Press. The translation is based not on the ''Critical Edition'' but on the version known to the commentator Nīlakaṇṭha. Currently available are portions of Parvas two, three, four, seven, eight, and nine. Chicago version Another English prose translation of the full epic, based on the ''Critical Edition'', is also in progress, published by University Of Chicago Press, initiated by Chicago Indologist J. A. B. van Buitenen (Parvas 1-5) and, following a 20-year hiatus caused by the death of van Buitenen, is being continued by D. Gitomer of DePaul University (Parvas 6-10), J. L. Fitzgerald of The University of Tennessee (Parvas 11-13) and W. Doniger of Chicago University (Parvas 14-18): :Vol. 1: Parva 1, 545 pages, 1980, ISBN 0-226-84663-6 :Vol. 2: Parvas 2-3, 871 pages, 1981, ISBN 0-226-84664-4 :Vol. 3: Parvas 4-5, 582 pages, 1983, ISBN 0-226-84665-2 :Vol. 4: Parva 6 (forthcoming) :Vol. 7: Parva 11, first half of parva 12, 848 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-226-25250-7 :Vol. 8: Second half of Parva 12 (forthcoming) Ganguli version Until these three projects are available in full, the only available complete English translations remain the Victorian prose versions by Kisari Mohan Ganguli , Several editions of the Kisari Mohan Ganguli translation of the Mahabharata incorrectly cite Pratap Chandra Roy as translator and this error has been perpetuated into secondary citations. See the publishers preface to the current Munshiram Manoharlal edition for an explanation. published between 1883 and 1896 (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers) and by M. N. Dutt (Motilal Banarasidoss Publishers). Most critics consider the translation by Ganguli to be faithful to the original text. The complete text of Ganguli's translation is available online (see External Links). KURU FAMILY TREE Key to Symbols Notes
SEE ALSO NOTES REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS ;Original text online
;Kisari Mohan Ganguli translation
;Articles on the Mahabharata
; Audio Narration ;Other resources
;Movies
|
|
|