Called the “great epic of India,” the Mahābhārata (mah-HAW-BAW-rah-tah) is composed in Sanskrit, the chief classical and sacred language of ancient India, and is probably the longest single literary work extant in any language. In its shortest version, the poem consists of more than 74,000 stanzas, divided into sections of varying length. Certain features—most prominent the use of formulaic repetitions with slight variations—suggest an origin in ancient oral tradition. Extant,... więcej

Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2022. 2p.