One of the two major Sanskrit epics of India, Mahabharata is essentially a tale of heroic deeds, treachery, loyalty, love and hate. Mahabharata is a marvelous conglomeration of human emotions comparable to the great martial epics of Europe such as the Illiad and the Nibelungenlied. The Mahabharata tells of struggle for supremacy between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas.

The Mahabharata is one of the longest epic in the world with more than 74000 verses, long prose and about 1.8 million words in total. It is one of the great Indian ancient epics the other being Ramayana. It is a major text of Hinduism and of immense importance to the culture of India and Nepal .It moves into the discussions of human goals (artha or wealth, kama or pleasure, dharma or duty/harmony, and moksha or liberation). Karma and Dharma play an integral role in the Mahabharata .It explains the Hindu philosophy at length The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa. Itihasa, a peculiar Sanskrit compound that stands for "(iti) indeed (ha) it was (asa)" is conventionally translated as history, and it has this meaning in the modern languages of India.

Hindus believe that Mahabharata was written by Ved Vyasa .It dates back to the late Vedic period and it probably reached its final form in the early Gupta period. However the first section of the Mahabharata states that it was Ganesha who on behalf of Vyasa wrote down the text when Vyasa dictated it .Ganesha is said to have written it only on one condition that Vyasa would never pause in his recitation .There is also a popular myth attached to this part that this is how Ganesha`s right task was broken .It is said while writing his pen failed and he used his tusk in replacement so that the writing is not interrupted .

The principal works and stories that are a part of the Mahabharata are the following Bhagavad Gita (Krishna advises and teaches Arjuna when he is ridden with doubt. Anusasanaparva.) Damayanti (or Nala and Damayanti, a love story. Aranyakaparva.) Krishnavatara (the story of Krishna, the Krishna Lila, which is woven through many chapters of the story) An abbreviated version of the Ramayana. Aranyakaparva.Rishyasringa (also written as Rshyashrnga, the horned boy and rishi. Aranyakaparva.)Vishnu sahasranama (a hymn to Vishnu, which describes his 1000 names; Anushasanaparva.)

The Mahabharata marks the beginning of the Kaliyug, which is the final age of mankind. Mahabharata teaches one the four goals of life;namely; Kama (pleasure), Dharma (duty), Artha (wealth) and Moksha (freedom or liberation). The four goals try to explain the relationship of an individual with the society and the world. Due to various conflicts of their dharma, many noble and revered figures in the Mahabharata end up fighting on the side of the Kauravas. For example, Bhishma had vowed to always protect the king of Hastinapura, whoever he may be. Thus, he was required to fight on the side of evil knowing that his Pandavas would end up victorious only with his death.

The Plot:
The Mahabharata tells a stirring story of family rivalry and war .The conflict concerns two sets of cousins :the Pandavas or the five sons of Pandu (Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva), and the Kauravas (descendants of Kuru), the one hundred sons of the blind Dhrtarastra, the eldest of whom was Duryodhana. Both sets of cousins claim the throne of the Kuru land, with its capital at Hastinapura, about fifty-five miles (ninety kilometres) northeast of modern Delhi. The struggle culminates in the great battle of Kurukshetra in which the Pandavas are ultimately victorious .The Mahabharata ends with the Pandavas destination to heaven. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age of Kali (Kali Yuga), the fourth and final age of mankind, where the great values and noble ideas have crumbled, and man is heading toward the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue.

The story goes this way that Janamejaya`s ancestor Shantanu ,the king of Hastinapur married Goddess Ganga .They had a son Bhisma who became the apparent heir .Many years later when Shantanu goes for hunting he sees Satyavati the daughter of a fisherman in the kingdom (she already had a son then Vyasa)and proposes her for marriage .Satyavati`s father agreed to give the consent only if Shantanu promised to make Satyavati`s son the future king .Shantanu agreed and Bhishma agrees not to take the throne. Shantanu has two sons by Satyavati, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Upon Shantanu`s death, Chitrangada becomes king. After his death Vichitravirya rules Hastinapura. In order to arrange the marriage of the young Vichitravirya, Bhishma goes to Kashi for a swayamvara of the three princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. He wins them, and Ambika and Ambalika are married to Vichtravirya.

Vichitravirya died young without any heirs. Satyavati then asked her first son Vyasa to go to Vichitravirya`s widows and give them the divine vision of giving birth to son`s without losing their chastity. Vyasa became the father of the royal children Dhritarashtra, who is born blind, and Pandu, who is born pale. He also became the father of Vidura.Pandu married Kunti and Madri .Dhritarasthra married Gandhari who blindfolded herself when she found she was married to a blind man. Pandu takes the throne because of Dhritarashtra`s blindness. Once when Pandu went out hunting deer, he is cursed that if he engages in any physical relationship , he will die. He then retires to the forest along with his two wives, and his brother rules thereafter, despite his blindness. Pandu`s elder queen Kunti however, asks the gods Dharma, Vayu, and Indra for sons, by using a boon granted by Durvasa. She gives birth to three sons Yudhishtira, Bhima, and Arjuna through these gods. Kunti shares her boon with the younger queen Madri, who bears the twins Nakula and Sahadeva through the Ashwini twins.All the five sons of Pandu are called Pandavas. Dhritarashtra had hundred sons through Gandhari, the Kaurava brothers, the eldest being Duryodhana, and the second Dushasana.

The entire Mahabharata narrates the rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas .Duryodhana conspires against the Pandavas and secretly sets their residence on fire which was made of lac Vidura informs the Pandavas on time and they escape from a tunnel which they had dug .Later when few charred bodies were recovered from the palace Bhishma performed the last rites thinking them to be Pandavas .Vidura told him that the Pandavas are aliveand asked him to keep it a secret.

In course of this exile the Pandavas hear of a swayamvara, a marriage competition, that was arranged for the Panchala princess Draupadi. The Pandavas enter the competition in disguise as Brahmins. The task was to string a mighty steel bow and shoot a target on the ceiling while looking at its reflection in water below.Arjuna succeeded in performing the task .When he returned with his bride, Arjuna said to his mother, that he has got a present for her .Kunti, without noticing what he had brought asked Arjun to share the present with all his brothers.To ensure that their mother is not disrespected , the brothers take her as a common wife. In some interpretations, Draupadi alternates months or years with each brother. At this juncture they also meet Krishna, who would become their lifelong ally and guide.

After the marriage when they return to Hastinapur it was decided that the kingdom of Hatinapur was to be divided and the Pandavas made their capital at Indraprastha .However none of the sides were satisfied at this decision. The Pandavas built a new palace for them, by Maya the Danava. They invited their Kaurava cousins to Indraprastha. As Duryodhana walked round the palace, and mistook a glossy floor for water. After being told of his error, he then saw pond, and assumed it is not water and fell in. Draupadi laughed at him, and he was humiliated. Shortly after this in a great gambling contest between the two sets of cousins the eldest of the Pandavas, Yudhisthira, foolishly staked and lost his whole property, including Draupadi, the common wife of the five brothers. The old King Dhrtarastra forced his sons to return Draupadi, but the brothers were driven into exile for thirteen years. After fourteen years when they returned, they found numerous allies like the Kauravas and both sides prepared for battle. Krishna became the mentor of the Pandavas. Krishna is the king of Mathura and son of Vasudeva and Devaki. He also served as charioteer to Arjuna in the battle.

The two sides called upon vast armies at Kurukshetra for the battle, which became the subject of many interpretations in Hindu philosophy. The Kingdoms of Panchala, Dwaraka, Kasi, Kekaya, Magadha, Matsya, Chedi, Pandya and the Yadus of Mathura and some other clans like the Parama Kambojas were allied with the Pandavas. The allies of the Kauravas included the kings of Pragjyotisha, Anga, Kekaya, Sindhudesa (including Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis), Mahishmati, Avanti in Madhyadesa, Madra, Gandhara, Kambojas and many others.It is in this episode that Krishna recites the famous Bhagavad gita to Arjun .

After the 18 day battle only the Pandavas, Satyaki, Ashwathama and Krishna survived.The Pandavas ruled the kingdom for sometime and then decided to renounce everything .Clad in skins and rags they retire to the Himalaya and climb towards heaven in their bodily form. A stray dog traveled with them. One by one the brothers and Draupadi fell on their way. As each one stumbled, Yudhishitra gave the rest the reason for their fall (Draupadi was partial to Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were vain and proud of their looks, Bhima and Arjuna were proud of their strength and archery skills, respectively). Only the virtuous Yudhisthira and the dog remained. The dog disclosed his identity that he was god Dharma. Only Yudhisthira reached heaven in his bodily form for being just and humble.

This story, which forms the main theme of the Mahabharat, makes up only about a quarter of the poem. The Mahabharat contains many other popular stories, including the tales of Nala and Damayanti, Savitri and Satyawan, Rama, and Shakuntala. But the underlying theme of the Mahabharat concerns moral duty and right conduct. The long and complex dispute that divides the royal family of Bharat affords an opportunity to explain the duties and conduct expected of a king. It also shows the ideals of behavior for subjects, soldiers, religious hermits, and people suffering misfortune.

The importance of Krishna as the main god of this epic developed in Hindu thought between 200 BC and AD 200. As a result, the Mahabharat can be used to trace the spread and development of Vaishnavite thought in Hinduism. The god Vishnu became a very personal deity for his worshippers through his appearance as Krishna, the adviser and friend of Prince Arjun in the Mahabharat. About 1,300 greatly varying manuscripts of the Mahabharat survive today. All of them show the poem in its later form because the earliest of them goes back only to the 1400`s.