Veda Vyasa, Mahabharata

Sudeshna Kar Barua (Independent Scholar - Asia)
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Textual History

Major Characters

Major Characters

The Story

The Story

History and Fiction

History and Fiction

A Sacred Text

A Sacred Text

Influence on Literature

Influence on Literature

Other Cultural Influences

Other Cultural Influences

Conclusion

Conclusion

Textual History

Textual History

The Mahabharata, “the story of the great battle of the Bharatas” (Winternitz 1981, 297) with its 100,000 slokas or couplets and long prose passages, is an Indian epic, venerated as a holy text by Hindus in particular. The longest poem ever written in any language, and termed “an entire literature” (Winternitz 1981, 296), the Mahabharata or the “Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty” (Doniger) was probably composed/compiled by the revered seer or Maharshi Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa or Veda Vyasa.

The

Mahabharata

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Citation: Kar Barua, Sudeshna. "Mahabharata". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 November 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23235, accessed 12 December 2024.]

23235 Mahabharata 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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