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    The document provides historical context for the Mahabharata, including estimates that date the Kurukshetra war between 1200-800 BCE based on the Iron Age setting. It also discusses attempts to date events using genealogical lists from Puranic literature and archaeoastronomy, which have produced dates ranging from 3102 BCE to the mid-2nd millennium BCE. The core story involves a struggle for the throne of Hastinapura between the Kaurava and Pandava branches of the Kuru clan which culminates in the battle of Kurukshetra.

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    DGFSDGV

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    The document provides historical context for the Mahabharata, including estimates that date the Kurukshetra war between 1200-800 BCE based on the Iron Age setting. It also discusses attempts to date events using genealogical lists from Puranic literature and archaeoastronomy, which have produced dates ranging from 3102 BCE to the mid-2nd millennium BCE. The core story involves a struggle for the throne of Hastinapura between the Kaurava and Pandava branches of the Kuru clan which culminates in the battle of Kurukshetra.

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    The document provides historical context for the Mahabharata, including estimates that date the Kurukshetra war between 1200-800 BCE based on the Iron Age setting. It also discusses attempts to date events using genealogical lists from Puranic literature and archaeoastronomy, which have produced dates ranging from 3102 BCE to the mid-2nd millennium BCE. The core story involves a struggle for the throne of Hastinapura between the Kaurava and Pandava branches of the Kuru clan which culminates in the battle of Kurukshetra.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    45 views3 pages

    DGFSDGV

    Uploaded by

    abhiroop k
    The document provides historical context for the Mahabharata, including estimates that date the Kurukshetra war between 1200-800 BCE based on the Iron Age setting. It also discusses attempts to date events using genealogical lists from Puranic literature and archaeoastronomy, which have produced dates ranging from 3102 BCE to the mid-2nd millennium BCE. The core story involves a struggle for the throne of Hastinapura between the Kaurava and Pandava branches of the Kuru clan which culminates in the battle of Kurukshetra.

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    Svargarohana Parva 

    (The Yudhishthira's final test and the return of the


    8 98
    Book of the Ascent to Heaven) Pandavas to the spiritual world (svarga).

    This is an addendum to the 18 books, and


    khil Harivamsa Parva (The Book of 99– covers those parts of the life of Krishna which is
    a the Genealogy of Hari) 100 not covered in the 18 parvas of
    the Mahabharata.

    Historical context
    The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is unclear. Many historians estimate the date of the
    Kurukshetra war to Iron Age India of the 10th century BCE.[46] The setting of the epic has a
    historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political
    power during roughly 1200 to 800  BCE.[47] A dynastic conflict of the period could have been the
    inspiration for the Jaya, the foundation on which the Mahābhārata corpus was built, with a
    climactic battle, eventually coming to be viewed as an epochal event.
    Puranic literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahābhārata narrative. The
    evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there
    were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshit (Arjuna's grandson) and the accession
    of Mahapadma Nanda (400-329  BCE), which would yield an estimate of about 1400  BCE for
    the Bharata battle.[48] However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings
    listed in the genealogies.[49] Of the second kind is analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas
    between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda.
    Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic lists and,
    assuming 18 years for the average duration of a reign, arrived at an estimate of 850  BCE for
    Adhisimakrishna, and thus approximately 950  BCE for the Bharata battle.[50]

    Map of some Painted Grey Ware (PGW) sites.

    B. B. Lal used the same approach with a more conservative assumption of the average reign to
    estimate a date of 836 BCE, and correlated this with archaeological evidence from Painted Grey
    Ware (PGW) sites, the association being strong between PGW artifacts and places mentioned in
    the epic.[51] John Keay confirms this and also gives 950 BCE for the Bharata battle. [52]
    Attempts to date the events using methods of archaeoastronomy have produced, depending on
    which passages are chosen and how they are interpreted, estimates ranging from the late 4th to
    the mid-2nd millennium BCE.[53] The late 4th-millennium date has a precedent in the calculation of
    the Kali Yuga epoch, based on planetary conjunctions, by Aryabhata (6th century). Aryabhata's
    date of 18 February 3102  BCE for Mahābhārata war has become widespread in Indian tradition.
    Some sources mark this as the disappearance of Krishna from the Earth.[54] The Aihole inscription
    of Pulakeshin II, dated to Saka 556 = 634 CE, claims that 3735 years have elapsed since the
    Bharata battle, putting the date of Mahābhārata war at 3137 BCE.[55][56]
    Another traditional school of astronomers and historians, represented by Vrddha
    Garga, Varāhamihira and Kalhana, place the Bharata war 653 years after the Kali Yuga epoch,
    corresponding to 2449 BCE.[57] According to Varāhamihira's Bṛhat Saṃhitā (6th
    century), Yudhishthara lived 2526 years before the beginning of the Shaka era, which begins in
    the 78 CE. This places Yudhishthara (and therefore, the Mahabharata war) around 2448-2449
    BCE (2526-78). Some scholars have attempted to identify the "Shaka" calendar era mentioned
    by Varāhamihira with other eras, but such identifications place Varāhamihira in the first century
    BCE, which is impossible as he refers to the 5th century
    astronomer Aryabhata. Kalhana's Rajatarangini (11th century), apparently relying on
    Varāhamihira, also states that the Pandavas flourished 653 years after the beginning of the Kali
    Yuga; Kalhana adds that people who believe that the Bharata war was fought at the end of
    the Dvapara Yuga are foolish.[58]

    Synopsis

    Ganesha writes the Mahabharata upon Vyasa's dictation.

    See also: List of characters in the Mahabharata


    The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the
    kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the
    struggle are the Kaurava and the Pandava. Although the Kaurava is the senior branch of the
    family, Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, is younger than Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava.
    Both Duryodhana and Yudhishthira claim to be first in line to inherit the throne.
    The struggle culminates in the great battle of Kurukshetra, in which the Pandavas are ultimately
    victorious. The battle produces complex conflicts of kinship and friendship, instances of family
    loyalty and duty taking precedence over what is right, as well as the converse.
    The Mahābhārata itself ends with the death of Krishna, and the subsequent end of his dynasty
    and ascent of the Pandava brothers to heaven. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age
    of Kali Yuga, the fourth and final age of humankind, in which great values and noble ideas have
    crumbled, and people are heading towards the complete dissolution of right action, morality, and
    virtue.

    The older generations


    Shantanu falls in love with Satyavati, the fisherwoman. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma.

    King Janamejaya's ancestor Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura, has a short-lived marriage with
    the goddess Ganga and has a son, Devavrata (later to be called Bhishma, a great warrior), who
    becomes the heir apparent. Many years later, when King Shantanu goes hunting, he
    sees Satyavati, the daughter of the chief of fisherman, and asks her father for her hand. Her
    father refuses to consent to the marriage unless Shantanu promises to make any future son of
    Satyavati the king upon his death. To resolve his father's dilemma, Devavrata agrees to
    relinquish his right to the throne. As the fisherman is not sure about the prince's children
    honoring the promise, Devavrata also takes a vow of lifelong celibacy to guarantee his father's
    promise.
    Shantanu has two sons by Satyavati, Chitrāngada and Vichitravirya. Upon Shantanu's death,
    Chitrangada becomes king. He lives a very short uneventful life and dies. Vichitravirya, the
    younger son, rules Hastinapura. Meanwhile, the King of Kāśī arranges a swayamvara for his
    three daughters, neglecting to invite the royal family of Hastinapur. To arrange the marriage of
    young Vichitravirya, Bhishma attends the swayamvara of the three princesses Amba, Ambika,
    and Ambalika, uninvited, and proceeds to abduct them. Ambika and Ambalika consent to be
    married to Vichitravirya.
    The oldest princess Amba, however, informs Bhishma that she wishes to marry the king of
    Shalva whom Bhishma defeated at their swayamvara. Bhishma lets her leave to marry the king
    of Shalva, but Shalva refuses to marry her, still smarting at his humiliation at the hands of
    Bhishma. Amba then returns to marry Bhishma but he refuses due to his vow of celibacy. Amba
    becomes enraged and becomes Bhishma's bitter enemy, holding him responsible for her plight.
    She vows to kill him in her next life. Later she is reborn to King Drupada as Shikhandi (or
    Shikhandini) and causes Bhishma's fall, with the help of Arjuna, in the battle of Kurukshetra.

    The Pandava and Kaurava princes

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