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War in the Mahabharata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Romila Thapar
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Extract

The Mahabharata, composed in sanskrit, is generally described as an epic. Other sanskrit texts refer to it occasionally as a kavya, or poem, and more often as an itihasa, which literally means “thus indeed it was,” suggesting an element of history. As with many early epics, it carries a consciousness of history but does not claim historicity. It evokes a past society of clans and narrates the events that bound them together or tore them asunder, focusing on the actions of those regarded as heroes.

Type
Correspondents at Large
Information
PMLA , Volume 124 , Issue 5: Special Topic War , October 2009 , pp. 1830 - 1833
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2009

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References

Works Cited

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Mahabharata. V. S. Sukthankar et al., eds. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Inst., 1933–66. Print.Google Scholar
Meiland, J. Maha·bhárata Book Nine: Shalya. Vol. 2. New York: New York UP, 2007. Print. Clay Sanskrit Lib.Google Scholar
Sukthankar, V. S. On the Meaning of the Mahabharata. Bombay: Asiatic Soc. of Bombay, 1957. Print.Google Scholar