A Study Guide for Anonymous's "Mahabharata"
()
About this ebook
Read more from Gale
A Study Guide for S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for James Clavell's "Shogun" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Louis Sachar's "Holes" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A study guide for Frank Herbert's "Dune" Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Study Guide for Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for William Shakespeare's Macbeth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBusiness Plans Handbook: Bakery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for George Orwell's Animal Farm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Business Plans Handbook: Furniture Businesses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Psychologists and Their Theories for Students: JEAN PIAGET Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Lois Lowry's The Giver Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Psychologists and Their Theories for Students: ALBERT BANDURA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for John Rawls's "A Theory of Justice" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Othello" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for James Joyce's "James Joyce's Ulysses" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Shirley Jackson's The Lottery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide (New Edition) for William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide (New Edition) for F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Wole Soyinka's "Death and the King's Horsemen" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBusiness Plans Handbook: Auto Detailing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for George Orwell's 1984 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to A Study Guide for Anonymous's "Mahabharata"
Related ebooks
The Mahabarata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - BOOK II - SABHA PARVA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUttara – Women from India Mythology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFootnotes of History: A Tale of the Mahabharata Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1000 Hindu Quotations for Speakers and Students Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIndian Unrest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVinaya-Patrika A Book of Supplication & True Love for God by Goswami Tulsidas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHindu Gods And Heroes: Studies in the History of the Religion of India Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Sister Nivedita - Volume 4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnraveling the Hidden Mysteries of the Vedas, Part 1: Aliens of the Vedic Kind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUniversal Prayers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHinduism: An Evolutionary Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKnowledge BLASTER! Guide to Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKrishna Charitra Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bhakta Prahallada: God Emerged as Man-Lion from the Pillar as Narasimha Avatar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRámáyan of Válmíki: Indian Epic Poem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essence of Buddhism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSrimad Ramayana Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic of History (Part 1 & 2: The Book of Thang & The Books of Yü) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssentially Mira: The Extraordinary Journey Behind Forest Essentials Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplete Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secrets of Indian Culture and Philosophy: Indian Culture Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Sister Nivedita - Volume 5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRam Lala Nahachu of Goswami Tulsidas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA "Mischievous Chicken" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDance Of Govinda Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laugh And Learn Dasavatar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPity for The Guy: A Biography of Guy Fawkes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Criticism For You
A Reader’s Companion to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killers of the Flower Moon: by David Grann | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses: A Novel by Sarah J. Maas | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Alone: by Kristin Hannah | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Virtues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Between the World and Me: by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Summary of Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How To Change Your Mind: by Michael Pollan | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for A Study Guide for Anonymous's "Mahabharata"
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Study Guide for Anonymous's "Mahabharata" - Gale
10
Mahabharata
Anonymous
C. 400 BCE–400 CE
Introduction
The Mahabharata (officially known as Bharat) is the great epic poem of India. Comprising one hundred thousand stanzas of verse divided into eighteen books, or parvas, the poem remained in the early 2000s the largest single literary work in existence. Originally composed in the ancient language of Sanskrit sometime between 400 BCE and 400 CE, the work is set in a legendary era thought to correspond to tenth-century BCE Indian culture and history. Its main subject is a feud between two branches of the ruling family of the northern Indian kingdom of Kurujangala, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Their conflict culminates in an eighteen-day battle and the annihilation of nearly all those involved in the conflict, except for the victors, the five Pandava brothers—Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva—and a handful of others.
The poem's theme concerns the Hindu concept of dharma, or sacred duty. In essence, the epic is an extended exploration of the responsibilities set forth by the code of dharma. In addition to recounting a heroic tale, the Mahabharata contains a collection of writings on a broad spectrum of human learning, including ethics, law, philosophy, history, geography, genealogy, and religion. It also features a number of legends, moral stories, and local tales, all woven into the elaborate narrative.
In the rest of the world, the poem is largely recognized for several of these exotic tales and for the Bhagavad Gita, which encapsulates many of the basic tenets of Hinduism. In India, the Mahabharata is considered one of the finest works on Hindu culture, and it is widely read and studied. In addition, it is viewed as the nation's most valued classical work of literature and continues to provide inspiration to new generations of Indian writers and artists. The encyclopedic inclusiveness and cultural importance of the Mahabharata cannot be overstated. A modern, highly praised translation by Kenneth Anderson appeared in 1999.
Author Biography
Scholars tend to agree that the Mahabharata was not written by a single individual. The belief is multiple authors compiled it over the course of several centuries. According to mythic tradition, however, the rishi (sage) Vyasa, who is also a character in the Mahabharata, wrote the work. In Sanskrit, the name Vyasa means collector, compiler, or arranger. Thus, Vyasa likely represents the countless individuals who put together the various tales, stories, histories, legends, and treatises that are known collectively as the Mahabharata.
A legendary figure occupying a prominent position in ancient Sanskrit literature, Vyasa is said to have composed the eighteen puranas, or ancient tales, and to have written the four Vedas, the sacred texts of the Hindu religion. Also according to myth, he is supposed to have written more than three million stanzas of the epic poem, the majority of which were for the entertainment and enlightenment of the gods, while only one hundred thousand of the stanzas were to be repeated among human beings as the Mahabharata.
The legend of Vyasa's creation of the poem explains that the great seer Vyasa wanted to write down the story of his people, the Bharata (an ancient Aryan tribe whose name became synonymous with India). While meditating on how he would give the work to his disciples, the elephant-headed god of writers, Ganesha, appeared. The deity