Question
Discuss the composition and content of Mahabharata as a literary work.
Solution
It is really hard to know who composed it because what we have today as Mahabharata is actually cumulative act of many individuals from a long period of time. However it is geneally believed that The original story was probably composed by charioteer-bards known as sutas who generally accompanied Kshatriya warriors to the battlefield and composed poems celebrating their victories and other achievements. These compositions circulated orally. Then, from the fifth century BCE, Brahmanas took over the story and began to commit it to writing. This was the time when chiefdoms such as those of the Kurus and Panchalas, around whom the story of the epic revolves, were gradually becoming kingdoms.
We notice another phase in the composition of the text between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE. This was the period when the worship of Vishnu was growing in importance, and Krishna, one of the important figures of the epic, was coming to be identified with Vishnu. Subsequently, between c. 200 and 400 CE , large didactic sections resembling the Manusmriti were added. With these additions, a text which initially perhaps had less than 10,000 verses grew to comprise about 100,000 verses. This enormous composition is traditionally attributed to a sage named Vyasa.
As we cannot authenticate the historicity of the text, many take it as a literary text with some comments in the social complexities of that time. However as a epic it is a very long epic, with narrative that is easy to undertand. It could be understood by any one. That could be the reason why later on the didactics were added in the main body, so that the author can impart their knowledge along with the narrative. As a literary text the Mahabharata is grounded in the Indian mythology and it was also the time when new myths were created,hence as a literary work it was highly imaginative.
We notice another phase in the composition of the text between c. 200 BCE and 200 CE. This was the period when the worship of Vishnu was growing in importance, and Krishna, one of the important figures of the epic, was coming to be identified with Vishnu. Subsequently, between c. 200 and 400 CE , large didactic sections resembling the Manusmriti were added. With these additions, a text which initially perhaps had less than 10,000 verses grew to comprise about 100,000 verses. This enormous composition is traditionally attributed to a sage named Vyasa.
As we cannot authenticate the historicity of the text, many take it as a literary text with some comments in the social complexities of that time. However as a epic it is a very long epic, with narrative that is easy to undertand. It could be understood by any one. That could be the reason why later on the didactics were added in the main body, so that the author can impart their knowledge along with the narrative. As a literary text the Mahabharata is grounded in the Indian mythology and it was also the time when new myths were created,hence as a literary work it was highly imaginative.
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