c. 400 BCE – 400 CE, Sanskrit
Mahabharata
The great tale of the Bharata dynasty
Attributed to Vyasa, the longest epic composed anywhere — over 100,000 verses across eighteen parvas. At its centre, the rivalry of the Pandavas and Kauravas ending on the field of Kurukshetra; inside it, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna's counsel to Arjuna on duty, action and the self, spoken as the armies wait to fight.
Key episodes
Adi & Sabha Parva
Cousins raised in one court — the five Pandavas and the hundred Kauravas — fall out over the throne of Hastinapura. A rigged game of dice strips the Pandavas of their kingdom and sends them into thirteen years of exile.
Bhishma Parva
Diplomacy fails and both sides muster at Kurukshetra. As the armies face each other, Arjuna's nerve breaks at the sight of kin on both sides — and Krishna's answer to him is the Bhagavad Gita.
Shalya & Sauptika Parva
Eighteen days of war end the Kaurava line; Duryodhana falls last. The war closes the Dvapara Yuga in the epic's own reckoning, giving way to Kali Yuga, the present and final age.