Mahabharata : A Criticism

Contents: Preface. The Mahabharata: as a Poem: 1. Introduction. 2. Vyasa, Vaisampayana and Sauti. 3. When and why the Bharata was recast. 4. How the Mahabharata attained to its present bulk. 5. The Vaisnavite element in the Mahabharata. 6. Mahabharata as an Epic poem. The Mahabharata: as a History: 1. The date of the Mahabharata war. 2. Were the pandavas real beings? 3. The ancestors of the pandavas. 4. Birth, early life and marriage with Draupadi. 5. The founding of Indraprastha or Delhi and its first imperial assemblage. 6. The disgraceful game at dice and its consequences. 7. The exile and one year of disappearance. 8. Preparations for war. 9. The fight. 10. The Triumph turned into a Disaster. 11. The sequel. Appendices. 1. The Extent of the Mahabharata. 2. The sub-parvas. 3. Kuta Slokas. 4. The additions subsequently made to the Bharata. 5. Explanation of the double positions of the planets mentioned in the Mahabharata. 6. Janamejaya\'s Brahmahatya. 7. Vedic argument in favour of our date of the Mahabharata fight. Index.

"That the Mahabharata was made a vehicle of moral and religious instruction is so apparent that it hardly requires any proof. In fact, the work has almost lost its character as an epic poem and has become, and has always been acknowledged, as a Smrti and a Dharma Sastra. Native writers and authors of treatises, so old as the Brahma Sutra, quote passages from the Bharata with the feeling of reverence due to a Dharma Sastra. The heaven which has thus been introduced is so general and so extensive that it is difficult to point out to any particular section as an interpolation. The Santiparva and Anusasanaparva have probably been added to, to a very great extent with this object, though it is not possible to say that these parvas are entirely new additions made about the time of the last recasting of the Bharata about 200 B.C. For certain portions of these parvas are indeed very old as we shall have occasion to show hereafter, and it is probable that these did form part of the original Bharata." (jacket)