The Mahabharata has several versions, but the most popular one is penned by Ved Vyas. It was written in Sanskrit and initially had 8,800 verses. This version was called ‘Jaya’ or the story of ‘victory’. After that several stories were complied and added to this collection. The number of verses increased to 24,000 and it was renamed as ‘Bharata’ after the earliest Vedic tribes. The current form consists of 1,00,000 verses and is divided into 10 parvas (chapters) with insets in the texts which are called Itihas Purana (mythical history).
The story is based on the conflict between the Kauravas and the Pandavas over the right to claim the throne of Hastinapur. The sutradhar of the story is Lord Krishna. The Mahabharata also consists of an important didactical text of Hindus, i.e., the Bhagwata Gita. This text is like a concise guide to Hindu religions’ philosophical dilemmas and even acts like a guide to mankind on how to live a righteous life. Most of the text is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and the Pandava prince Arjuna about the duties of a man, warrior and prince.
He also elaborates on the problem of violence versus non-violence; action versus non-action and in the end about the Dharma. He even makes distinction between various kinds of Dharma and prefers that Arjuna and mankind should follow Nishkama Karma, i.e. to
perform one’s duty to the family and the world in a selfless way.
Both the above-mentioned epics have been retold in several Indian and foreign languages. It has been dramatised by theatres as well as by television. It is not only because both the stories have a universal appeal, but because they show the right way of human existence and of the necessity of positiveness of human actions.