Mahabharata

ma-ha-bha'ra-ta, one of the great national epic poems of ancient India, and one of the great epics of the world's literature. The title Mahabharata signifies "The Great Poem of the Bharatas." The word Bharatas means the descendants of King Bharata. The poem consists of eighteen cantos and contains 200,000 verses. It is about eight times as long as the Iliad and Odyssey combined. It is evidently a compilation. About one-fourth of the whole work is concerned with the main story, which is an account of the feud between two rival branches of the royal line. The rest of the poem consists of episodes and incidents of mythological history, interspersed with much that is didactic and even dogmatic. The Hindus ascribe the poem to Vyasa, a name which signifies "arranger," and is thought to imply the composite nature of the poem. Various parts of the work, it is evident, had been collected under the present title as early as 350 B. C., but it is uncertain to what extent the poem has been changed, or what additions have been made since that date. The moral teaching of the poem, is of a lofty character. Certain parts show high literary merit; and, while much of the subject matter seems grotesque and absurd, it is hardly to be wondered at that the study of the Mahabharata became an important part of the education of Hindu youth, just as a knowledge of the Iliad was deemed essential to the Greek. As yet, only portions of the Mahabharata have been translated into English. Some of the stories related in this epic have been used, however, by English authors. The old story of the pound of flesh used by Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice can be traced to this source. See Literature; Epic; Merchant Of Venice