India's Greatest Epic

History of the Mahābhārata

by Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi

Long before the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, long before the ancient Greeks, a war was fought on the plains of Northern India: the Kurukṣetra War. This war and its antecedents form the story of Mahābharata, the story of Greater India and the rise and fall of the Aryans. 

Antiquity of Mahābhārata

The Aryan civilization found its denouement in the Kurukṣetra war, the internecine battle between the sons and grandsons of the great warrior Bhiṣma, arguably the bloodiest battle in the ancient history of the world. The exact age of the war is unknown, however the Sanskrit Mahābharata was known to Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great.  Having conquered a part of the region west of the Indus River somewhere around 500 BC, Alexander sent the spoils of his conquest to his library in Alexandria.

Among the treasures of Alexander’s Eastern conquest were books in Sanskrit, including the grammar of Panini, the Upaniṣadic texts, the original Vedas in Sanskrit, and the Mahābharata. The traditions of the poet Vyāsa, nominal composer of the work, were celebrated in ballads, song, and theatrical works long before the time of Alexander. Scholars tend to date the work from the time of Alexander since the work was brought home to Greece at that time. But while it is difficult to assign a date to the Mahabharata, they must have been written at least hundreds of years before their discovery by the Greeks.

Dates and Conservative Estimates

Since the events celebrated in epics often take place long before they are recorded in literature, a conservative estimate of the age of Mahābharata takes us back to at least 1000 years before the modern Christian Era (CE). According to some traditions, the work is far older. Some historians give the date as early as 3109 B.C. Many researchers cite the lack of certifiable artifacts dating from this time as evidence that the antiquity of these stories is exaggerated, however the ancient text itself demonstrates an incredible wealth of detail about the civilizations that once occupied the Indus River valley extending to the region of the Ganges Delta – so claims that indicate origins in ancient antiquity cannot be easily dismissed.

The great Kurukṣetra war ended in the total destruction of the dynasty of the Aryans who populated the region. While different theories exist as to the racial characteristics of the Aryan peoples so many thousands of years ago, it is hard to imagine today exactly what happened. We may rely only on the text itself and the traditions of India for clues. Our story takes place on the  plains of Kurukṣetra in Punjab, Northwest of present day Delhi.

Time travel

We must cast our vision back into time, back thousands of years far before the time of Shakespeare, before the time of King Arthur, before the Aztecs sacrificed their virgins and warriors to the sun god, before the dark ages. The heros of Mahabharata fought their battles and made their offerings to the gods centuries before the fall of the Roman Empire, even centuries before Jesus Christ taught in Galilee.

To apply our imagination to the stories of the Mahabharata, we must return  to a time before Alexander the Great sat at the feet of Socrates to learn Algebra and the philosophy and etiquette of kings. We must travel back into the past before the Egyptian Pyramids of Giza dominated the valleys  of the Nile river basin.

And now that we have journeyed into the past, we must then turn our vision farther east, beyond the Pyramids of the Nile. Past the Hindu Kush. We must travel to the other side of the world, the Orient, all the way to the wild, mystical foothills of the Himalayas, to a time in ancient history sometime after human beings crawled out of the ice age and began organizing themselves into agricultural communities.

The Mohenjo-Daro civilization

Farming took place with the domestication of oxen, horse, and elephant. The domestication of the cow, the cultivation of rice, bananas, and wheat were achieved by the Mohenjo-Daro civilization that grew near the now-extinct basin of the Saraswati River.  (http://www.mohenjodaro.net/

A civilization was born from agricultural cultivation. Gradually towns and cities arose. How South Asia came to be populated with citizens and their kings is an enigma shrouded in mystery.

 But how the ancient kings of the Aryan civilization ruled, did battle, and celebrated peace, how they thrived and were finally ruined are the subjects of our story. Their lives have been recorded in the meters of Vyasadeva’s poetry as Mahabharata.

Kings of Hastinapura: Pandu and Dhritarasthra

Paṇḍu and his blind brother Dhṛtaraṣṭra were the respective kings of Hastinapura, the place of the elephants. Modern archeologists have placed the ruined walls of the palaces of Hastinapura nearby the original city of New Delhi. At the time of our story,  Hastinapura was the seat of the ancient rulers of India. When King Paṇḍu died, before his time, his brother Dhṛtaraṣṭra reluctantly became regent-king ruling until the next generation was fit to inherit the kingdom. A rivalry grew between  his nephews, the sons of Paṇḍu, along with his own hundred sons headed by the eldest; Duryodhana.

The sons of Paṇḍu  were called the Paṇḍavas . Of the five Paṇḍavas, Yudhiṣthira also the eldest, was a man of righteousness and truth. Bhīma was a powerful warrior, mighty and stong, with a warriors appetite.

Arjuna was to become  the greatest archer who ever lived. Their two younger brothers were the twins: Nakula and Sahadeva: both handsome, elegant, masters of poetry, lovers of women and noble warriors.

Summary of the Story

Our story begins as Vyasa, visits the ruins of the battlefield. Bhishma begins to tell his own story about the succession to the throne of Hastinapura. The story of the Mahabharata may be summarized as follows:

Before the pious rule of Bharata and his descendants, the ksatriyas or warrior class had committed many abuses. Before the golden age of Bhishmadeva, these ruthless dictators persecuted brahmaṇas, raped the land, destroyed rivers and forests, plundered and killed the innocent. They demanded tribute in the form of gold and silver. They raped virgins and violated the principles of religion. The earth was soaked in blood and the rivers ran red.

The story goes that the earth had been overburdened with the weight of militaristic kings. The earth was exhausted with wars. So it was that once upon a time, Bhumidevi, the earth in the form of a cow, came to pray to Vishnu and beg for help against these injustices. In those days, the earth was exhausted from exploitation. It was Kṛṣṇa who decided to alleviate the suffering of the earth. He set into motion a sequence of events that would culminate in the Kurukṣetra War, the First Great War of Kings.  

Our story begins with the end of the great Kurukṣetra war. Amid the ruins of the killing fields huddle a single handful of battle-scarred warriors. Their shields are bent, their quivers exhausted, their faces bloody. They are covered in sweat and blood, and the dust of the war-grounds. 

Their limbs are scarred, their bodies torn with arrows. These are the five Paṇḍavas, victorious in the battle, the new lords of Hastinapura. They are among the only survivors of the devastating war. They have defeated the envious Kauravas, but at what cost? This is the story of Mahabharata.

 The Mahābhārata tells the story of the rule of the kings of India in the line of Bharata in ancient times. Within its pages we see the clash of heroes, the seduction of saints, fiery heroines, and the teachings of mystics. With dark mysteries and deep wisdom teachings, this saga of heroes has held readers spellbound for generations. What is the secret meaning at the heart of Mahabharata?

India's Greatest Epic

Compared with the Ramāyana, "The Mahabharata" is considered to be the more recent of India's two great epics. It is by far the longer. First composed by the Vyasa in verse, it has come down the centuries in the timeless oral tradition of guru and sishya, profoundly influencing the history, culture, and art of not only the Indian subcontinent but most of south-east Asia. At 100,000 couplets, it is seven times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey combined: far and away the greatest recorded epic known to man. "The Mahabharata" is the very Book of Life: in its variety, majesty and, also, in its violence and tragedy. It has been said that nothing exists that cannot be found within the pages of this awesome legend. The epic describes a great war of some 5000 years ago, and the events that led to it. The war on Kurukshetra sees ten million warriors slain, brings the age of godly kings to an end, and ushers in a new and sinister age: this present kali yuga.

 What is Kali-yuga?

Sometime around 3102 B.C. the planets entered the age of iron. Known in the ancient Vedas as Kali-yuga, this would be a dark night of the soul. The march of time would see the rise and fall of civilizations and a final descent into barbarism. Will we see fulfilment of the prophecies of Vyasa for Kali-yuga? Only a close reading of the epic will reveal its inner truths.

The Bhāgavad-Gītā

The inner mystery of India's Great Epic is found in the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God. Between two armies, Krishna expounds the eternal dharma to his warrior of light, Arjuna. At one level, all the restless action of the Mahabharata is a quest for the Gita and its sacred stillness. After the carnage, it is the Gita that survives, immortal lotus floating upon the dark waters of desolation: the final secret! With its magnificent cast of characters, human, demonic, and divine, and its riveting narrative, the Mahabharata continues to enchant readers and scholars the world over. This new rendering brings the epic to the contemporary reader in sparkling modern prose. It brings alive all the excitement, magic, and grandeur of the original - for our times.