The Mahābhārata (Devanagari: महाभारत), is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyana. With more than 74,000 verses, plus long prose passages, or some 1.8 million words in total, it is one of the longest epic poems in the world.[1] Taken together with the Harivamsa, the Mahabharata has a total length of more than 90,000 verses.
It is also of immense religious and philosophical importance in India, in particular for including the Bhagavad Gita, an important text of Hinduism.
The title may be translated as "Great India", or "the great tale of the Bharata Dynasty", according to the Mahabharata's own testimony extended from a shorter version simply called Bhārata of 24,000 verses[2] The epic is part of the Hindu itihāsas, literally "that which happened", along with the Ramayana and the Purānas.
Traditionally, the Mahabharata is ascribed to Vyasa. Due to its immense length, its philological study has a long history of attempting to unravel its historical growth and composition layers. In its final form, it was completed by the first century, with its central core Bharata (consisting of 24,000 verses) dating back to the 6th century BC, and some parts possibly dating back as far as the 8th century BC. The events depicted in the Mahabharata are thought to have taken place around the 12th century BC.
- Wikipedia, 2006