Facts about Mahabharata
Not unlike the field of Homeric studies, research on the Mahabharata has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating various layers within the text.
Some of the most noble and revered figures in the Mahabharata end up fighting on the side of the Kauravas, due to conflicts of their dharma, or duty.
Contentious and disputable attempts to date the events of the Mahabharata with the help of archaeoastronomy have claimed dates in the sixth millennium B.C.E.
from Khoh (Satna District, Madhya Pradesh), describing the Mahabharata as a "collection of 100,000 verses" (shatasahasri samhita).
The Mahabharata itself ends with the death of Krishna, and the subsequent end of his dynasty, and ascent of the Pandava brothers to Heaven.
The Mahabharata itself (1.1.61) distinguishes a core portion of 24,000 verses, the Bharata proper, as opposed to additional "secondary" material, and the Ashvalayana Grhyasutra (3.4.4) makes a similar distinction.
The Mahabharata is of immense religious and philosophical importance in India.
The Harivamsha 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.
When the Mahabharata was first broadcast in India, it shattered television records by reaching 97.8 percent viewership there.
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 Bhagavadgita, which translates to "the Song of the Divine," comprises some 700 verses of the Bhishma Parva section of the Mahabharata (chapters 23 – 40).
According to the Puranas, there is a time gap of 1,015 or 1,500 years between Parikshit's birth during the Mahabharata war and the coronation of king Mahapadma Nanda (ca.
The first section of the Mahabharata states that it was Ganesha who, at the behest of Vyasa, fixed the text in manuscript form.
The Mahabharata includes large amounts of Hindu mythology, cosmological stories of the gods and goddesses, and philosophical parables aimed at students of Hindu philosophy.
Contentious and disputable attempts to date the events of the Mahabharata with the help of archaeoastronomy have claimed dates in the sixth millennium B.C.E.
An important character in the Mahabharata is Bhishma, the son of Shantanu (the king of Hastinapur) and the goddess Ganga.