The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the "Ramayana".

The "Mahabharata" is an epic narrative of the Kuruksetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or "purusartha" (12.161). Among the principal works and stories in the "Mahabharata" are the "Bhagavadgita", the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the "Ramayana", and the story of Rsyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.

Traditionally, the authorship of the "Mahabharata" is attributed to Vyasa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400BCE, though the origins of the epic probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century CE). The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bharata dynasty". According to the "Mahabharata" itself, the tale is extended from a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply "Bharata".

The "Mahabharata" is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written". Its longest version consists of over 100,000 "sloka" or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose passages. About 1.8million words in total, the "Mahabharata" is roughly ten times the length of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" combined, or about four times the length of the "Ramayana". W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the "Mahabharata" in the context of world civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the works of Homer, Greek drama, or the Qur'an.

1. what are the 2 major Sanskrit epics of india
2. what is the longest epic poem known
3. what has compared the importance mahabharata to that of the bible
4. is the tail extended from a shorter version
5. what is Rsyasringa concidered
6. was the title translated
7. how old is it
8. does it compare to a greek drama
9. what about works of shakespear
10. and the qur an

Provide a numbered list of answers.
1. Mahabharata and the "Ramayana".
2. "Mahabharata"
3. . W. J. Johnson
4. yes
5. a work in its own right.
6. yes
7. around 400BCE
8. yes
9. yes
10. yes