The epic is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyāsa, who is also a major character in the epic. Vyāsa described it as being itihāsa (Sanskrit: इतिहास, meaning "history"). He also describes the Guru-shishya parampara, which

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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. The setting of the epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kurukingdom was the center of political

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The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuruclan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in

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Just war
The Mahābhārata offers one of the first instances of theorizing about dharmayuddha,

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Translations
A Persian translation of Mahabharata, titled Razmnameh, was produced at Akbar's orders, by Faizi and ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni in the 18th century.
The first complete English translation was the

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This shows the line of royal and family succession, not necessarily the parentage. See the notes below for detail.
Key to Symbols
• Male: blue border
• Female: red border
• Pandavas: green box

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In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince and elaborates on different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophyand

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