Mahabharata till today serves as the longest single poem. Mahabharata literally means the great story of Bharat dynasty. It is a major part of Hindu culture. This epic is part of the Hindu itihasa or history and thus forms an important part of Hindu mythology. It has been believed by historians that Mahabharata is just a fictitious fable narrated by the great Sage Ved Vyas. However various noted scholars are of the conclusion that the Great Indian Epic is a detailed account of an event that occurred in the past. The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, besides Ramayana.

Mahabharata mentions all four kinds of Purushartha to be achieved by every man. This Great Indian Epic describes about Politics (Artha sastra), Erotics (Kamasastra), and Virtues (Dharma sastras) by the great sage Vyasa. Added to it Mahabharata is a compilation of stories about the ancestors of Pandavas and many kings like Yayathi, conflict of Devas and Asuras, Story of Garuda. Furthermore, Mahabharata is considered to be the source for the development of Sanskrit Literature. This Great Indian Epic gains prominence as a literary work. 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. Karma and Dharma play an integral role in the Mahabharata. It explains the Hindu Philosophy at length.

According to Hindu mythology it is believed that Mahabharata was written by Ved Vyasa. The origin of the Great Indian Epic 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.

The epic is interwoven within a story structure. It is employed that it is recited to the King Janamejaya who is the great-grandson of Arjuna, by Vaisampayana, a disciple of Vyasa. The recitation of Vaisampayana to Janamejaya is then recited again by a professional story teller named Ugrasrava Sauti, many years later, to a gathering of sages. A copper-plate inscription of the Maharaja Sharvanatha 533-534 from Khoh, Madhya Pradesh illustrates the Mahabharata as a collection of 100,000 verses, it was known from this evidence, that it is likely there are about 18 books whose anthology took place in the first century. Most parvas are named after one of their constituent sub-parvas. The Harivamsa was considered an appendix (khila) to the Mahabharata.

The 18 Parvas of Mahabharata include `Adi Parva` or the `Book of the Beginning` describing the origin of the Great Indian Epic. `Sabha Parva` or the `Book of the Assembly Hall` is the second parva among the 18 parvas. It introduces Maya Danava and narrates the erecting a palace and court (sabha), at Indraprastha. The third chapter is the Vana Parva or Aranyaka-parva which is the `Book of the Forest` and mentions about Pandavas` life wile in exile. Virata Parva is the Book of Virata, narrating the year in incognito spent at the court of Virata. Udyoga Parva or the Book of the Effort describes the preparations for war by the karauvas and the pandavas. Bhishma Parva is the Book of Bhishma. Drona Parva or the Book of Drona speaks about the great battle with Drona as commander. Karna Parva is the Book of Karna describing Karna. Shalya Parva is the Book of Shalya dealing with the last day of the battle. Sauptika Parva is the Book of the Sleeping Warriors. Stri-parva is the Book of the Women explaining thir plight after the Kurukshetra war. Shanti-parva is the Book of Peace while Anushasana-parva is the Book of the Instructions laid down by Bhisma. Ashvamedhika-parva describes about the Horse Sacrifice conducted by Yudhishtira.

Ashramavasika-parva or the Book of the Hermitage, Mausala-parva or the Book of the Clubs, Mahaprasthanika-parva or the Book of the Great Journey and the Svargarohana-parva respectively explains the final and eventual end of the Kauravas, Pandavas and Yadava and marked the end of an era.

A timeless creation, Mahabharata also sets up to learn much about the Older Generations of Mahabharataa. It is described in the Mahabharataa that Shantanu was the ancestor of the Pandavas and Kauravas. The two sons of Shantanu, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya ruled the Kingdom of Hastinapur. Vichitravirya was survived by Pandu and Dhritarashtra. Bhisma, commonly known as Devabrata, the great grandfather of principle warriors was also among the influencing ancestors of the Mahabharata.

The main action of Mahabharata revolves around the contest of Pandavas and Kauravas and the contest is set in the strategic and fertile plain of Delhi. The Kauravas were the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and their capital was Hastinapur, the Pandavas on the other hand were the five sons of Pandu. As Dhritarashtra was blind, the Kuru territories were succeeded by the Pandavas, but Pandu had a skin ailment and hence even he was not eligible to rule. In order to avoid conflict between the Pandava and the Kaurava brothers, Dhritrashtra had divided the kingdoms into two equal halves and the Pandavas ruled the kingdom from Indraprastha. But this arrangement did not satisfy the Kauravas and they invited the Pandavas to a gambling match. The result of the gambling match was that the Pandavas lost everything they had staked and the a settlement was reached that they would be allowed to retain half the patrimony and their joint wife Draupadi provided they went to an exile for a period of thirteen years. But even after they returned from exile, the Kauravas did not allow them to rule. Hence the matter had to be settled through war.

As a result an eighteen day long battle was fought in the plains of Kurukshetra and many clans most of whom belonged to the Kauravas was annihilated in the battle. The Pandavas established their victory and ruled the kingdom peacefully for some years. Then the Pandava brothers renounced their royal status after installing a grandson walked towards City of the Gods in the Himalaya.

It can be said that the ambience of Mahabharata is more of a clan based society, particularly in the case of Yadavas. It has been seen in the great epic that several times the narrative has been intervened by Krishna, a Yadava chief. The Pandavas and the Kauravas were the descendants of Puru whereas the Yadavas were the successors of Puru`s brother. Hence there is a touch of distant kinship present in Mahabharata. The geography of Mahabharata encompasses Ganges-Yamuna doab and adjoining areas and also Saurashtra in Gujarat.

Mahabharata is a masterpiece in many ways as it includes larger than life characters such as Lord Krishna, Bhisma, Arjuna, Karna, Yudhisthir, Duryodhan, Dronacharya. Every single incident of Mahabharata is full of twists and turns moreover containing the song of the supreme, the Bhagavad Gita. It can thus put forth that Mahabharata the basis of cultural consciousness that symbolize Hinduism. The Mahabharata ends with the Pandavas destination to heaven and 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 been crumbled, and man is heading towards the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue. In addition to that the Mahabharata, the Great Indian Epic can be used to traced the spread and development of Vaishnavite thought in Hinduism.