Mahabharata

The ***Mahābhārata*** (; ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Hinduism written by saint Vyasa, the other is the *Rāmāyaṇa*. It tells of issues between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War. It also tells the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors.

The *Mahābhārata* includes philosophical and devotional material. It has a discussion of the four "*goals of life*" or *puruṣārtha* (12.161). The stories in the *Mahābhārata* include the *Bhagavad Gita*, the story of Damayanti, the story of Shakuntala, the story of Pururava and Urvashi, the story of Savitri and Satyavan, the story of Kacha and Devyani and the story of Rishyasringa. It also has a shortened version of the *Rāmāyaṇa*.

The *Mahābhārata* is normally said to be written by Vyāsa. Most of it was probably put together between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. The oldest parts o it are not much older than around 400&nbsp;BCE. The text probably became in its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century CE).

The *Mahābhārata* is the longest epic poem known. It has been said to be "the longest poem ever written". Its longest version has over 100,000 *śloka* or over 200,000 individual verse lines. It also has and long sections of prose. The *Mahābhārata* has about 1.8 million words in total. It is about ten times the length of the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey* combined, It is about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa. The importance of the *Mahābhārata* to world civilization has been compared to that of the Bible, the Quran, the works of Homer, Greek drama, or the works of William Shakespeare. It is sometimes called the fifth Veda.
These sections deal with a number of topics such as a number of aspects of Hinduism, Hindu mythology, ethics, and the Hindu way of life. There is also a nineteenth section named *Harivamsha*. The Bhagavadgita, a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, is a part of the *Mahabharata*.

Sage Vyasa taught this epic to his son Suka and his students Vaisampayana and others. King Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit and grandson of the heroes of the epic, performed a great sacrifice (*yajna*). The epic was retold by Vaisampayana to Janamejaya at the advice of Vyasa. Later on, the other sage Suta retold the *Mahabharata* similar to Vaisampayana to Janamejaya, to Saunaka and others, during a sacrifice performed by Saunaka in Naimisaranya, which is near Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.

## Parvas
Noted below are few words about the eighteen sections of the *Mahabharata*. In *Mahabharata*, these sections are called *parvan*. A *parvan* means a book. The names of all *parvas* or books of the *Mahabharata* are noted below.

## The Pandavas 
Kunti wants to fulfil her maternal expectations, but she has no man. She recollects the moment when her first son Karna was conceived from an arcane *mantra* which had given her once. Surya, the Sun God, appeared to her then. Thus, Kunti remembers her secret *mantra* and gives birth to the three sons – Yudhistra, Bhima and Arjuna. Yudhisthira’s father was god Yama, Bhima’s father was god Vayu, and Arjuna's father was Indra.

Madri, the second wife of Pandu, gave birth to two other sons - the twins, whose fathers were Ashwins (divine twins). Madri's sons are Nakula and Sahadeva.

These all are called the five Pandavas.

## Donation for it's compilation
In the year 1932, The *Bhandarkar oriental research institute* located in Pune, needed money for the compilation and publication of the Holy Mahabharata and a guest house. A formal request was made to the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad State, Mir Osman Ali Khan who in no time released a farman to donate Rs.1000 per year for a period of 11 years. 

Whereas, Rs. 50,000 was offered for the guest which is known as "Nizam guest house".

## Related page 
* Manipur of Odisha
## More information 
* 
* Some nice info on Hinduism including the Mahabharata 

## References