This is what a famous historian of Indian literature Maurice Winternitz, wrote about the Mahabharata: “just because the Mahabharata represents more of an entire literature.... and contains so much and so many kinds of things....(it) give (s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk.' Discuss.

When we look into Mahabharata an epic of an enormous length we find that what Maurice Winternitz has said does have some importance. Because as he says ' contains so much and so many kinds of things....(it) give (s) us an insight into the most profound depths of the soul of the Indian folk'. Although it contains wealth of knowledge in it but we do have to consider certain aspects for example, in what language it was written, what kind of text it is, whether it contains mantra, stories etc, who wrote it and for whom and around what date it was compiled. Thus loking into those things we will be able to discern the text properly. Historian using the text were really able to piece together the social history of that period. for example

1. We are able to understand about the idea of kinship during that time. 

2. We are also able to understand the importance of patriliny and how strongly it was embedded in the society.

3. We are also able to kow the position of women, thier duties in the patrilineal world of that time.
4. We are also able to know that brahhmanical norms at that time had some hegemony over the rest of the norms prevalent during that time.
5. We are also able to gather how brahminal ordered society or brhamanas viewed people who were outside of their norms.
6. Through the text we are also able to know that the hegemony of Brhamanas were not absolute and it was challenged in varieties of ways.

Thus the text Mahabharata plays very important role in figuring the soul of society during that time.