My dad gave me this complete translation of The Mahabharat yesterday.
The Mahabharata is an old, old story (created in verse around 4th century BCE and compiled in written format around 10th century CE) made up of hundred Parvas (or ‘sections’) that tell the story of a long-standing family feud between two sets of cousins – the Kauravas and the Pandavas – for control of the Royal throne of the city of Hastinapur.
It deals with humanity, human morality, duty (Dharma) and injustice (Adharma).
The Mahabharat is easily one of the greatest epics and historical books in the world and is an integral part of Indian History and culture.
As a kid I grew up with stories passed down from my ancestors and family.
The amazing thing about growing up in a country like India where everyone is so connected to each other and where the history affects your present life so much is that every person has their own interpretation of this history. Every family has it's own traditions, it's own stories to tell. The Mahabharat is a story that is told in every household of India and yet, if you ask different people of different states, they will each have their own slightly modified version with their own unique brand of local culture mixed in.
This gives you this feeling of vastness. Atleast to me, it feels like I'm connected by blood and by being to these innumerous people and
personalities that existed in the past by these stories they told their families and their children which they inevitably passed down to their children and so on.
There is a lot of debate on whether the Mahabharat is real or fiction but that seems like an exercise in futility not because the history that is narrated in the Tale is fake or untrue,
but because there is no point in fighting over it's validity when it is most real through the countless generations that have heard it's existence.
To me it's not real because the people in the tale may or may not have had existed sometime but because it's carved on the walls of temples by countless kings and artisans,
taught to children by their mothers as their first lesson of culture and still celebrated in life today.
India (Bharat) has such an unbelievable amount of history and culture that even I as an Indian am blown away by the sheer volume and the weight of the past. It is both comforting and daunting at the same time. Comforting because with these stories, these richly painted histories as a part of your blood and your past, how could one ever be truly alone? And daunting, because you feel like you will never measure up or be worthy of all the people who had lived, breathed and created this resplendent heritage.
I will never stop admiring. I can never stop admiring. Humanity as a whole is truly wondrous and I am immeasurably lucky to have been born to this line of civilization with it's vast wisdom and indomitable beauty.