The Mahabharata
Epic History · ~400 BCE - 400 CE
The longest epic poem ever written. Contains the Bhagavad Gita within it.
The Mahabharata is the longest epic poem ever written by a huge margin. With approximately 100,000 verses, it is about ten times the length of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey combined. It was composed by the sage Vyasa (the same sage who organized the Vedas), originally in Sanskrit. At its core, the Mahabharata is the story of two branches of a royal family: the five Pandava brothers (Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva) and their one hundred Kaurava cousins, led by the jealous Duryodhana. The conflict begins when Duryodhana tricks the Pandavas out of their kingdom through a rigged dice game and sends them into exile for thirteen years. When the Pandavas return and ask for their kingdom back, Duryodhana refuses, and a catastrophic war breaks out at Kurukshetra. But the Mahabharata is about so much more than a war. It contains the Bhagavad Gita (Krishna's teachings to Arjuna), hundreds of sub-stories about dharma and morality, philosophical debates, and some of the most complex characters in all of world literature. Karna, who fights on the wrong side despite being a good person. Bhishma, who is bound by a vow that forces him to serve a king he knows is unjust. Draupadi, who demands justice when the men around her fail to act. The epic itself says: "What is found here may be found elsewhere. What is not found here will not be found elsewhere." Telugu families have a deep connection to the Mahabharata. It was translated into Telugu by the poet Nannaya in the 11th century, making it one of the first major literary works in the Telugu language. The Telugu Mahabharata (Andhra Mahabharatamu) was completed over several centuries by three poets: Nannaya, Tikkana, and Errana, and it is considered a masterpiece of Telugu literature. During Navaratri, Mahabharata episodes are dramatized in plays and TV serials that Telugu families follow closely.
"What is found here may be found elsewhere. What is not found here will not be found elsewhere."