When talking about books, historians take certain aspects into consideration.
1. Their language, whether it is in Pali, Prakrit, Tamil or Sanskrit.
2. Their genre – Are they mantras or stories?
3. Their authors, their viewpoints, the ideas that prompted them to write the book.
4. Their intended readers. Writers write books keeping in view the interests of their intended readers.
5. Their time and place of publication.
Only after looking into these things, the historians assess the contents of the books and their historical importance. It is a difficult task. In the case of a complicated book like Mahabharata, their task becomes all the more difficult.
Language and Content of Mahabharata: It is available in many languages. The Sanskrit of Mahabharata is simpler than that of the Vedas and Prasashtis for example, the Allahabad Prasashti. That is why many people could read and understand Mahabharata. Its simple language made it more popular.
The contents are divided into two – narrative and didactic. In the narrative part, there are stories. In the didactic part, there are suggestions on social rules and regulations.
The division is not very strict, as they overlap. Whatever be the case, Mahabharata is a fine story. It is believed that the didactic part was added after the Maurya period.
Mahabharata is qualified as an Itihasa of the early Sanskrit literature. Itihasa means ‘It – hasa’ -“Thus It Was”. That is why it is considered history. The biggest event in the Mahabharata is the Battle of Kurukshetra. Among historians, there are differing views about this Battle.
Some say it was a real fight between relatives. But there are people who think there was never such a battle. There is no proof at all about such a battle.
Authors and Dates:
Historians differ in these. Traditionally, some people think Vyasa Maharshi wrote it. But modem historians think it was written by different writers. Initially, in Mahabharata there were only less than 10,000 slokas. But it grew into a huge book with more 100,000 slokas.
It is not possible for a single person to write such a huge book. It is also believed that it was written at different periods.The original story of Mahabharata was made by a group of poets, known as ‘Sutas’.
These Sutas accompanied the Khastriyas into the battlegrounds and sang about the exploits and victories of the soldiers. These stories orally passed from generation to generation. It is believed that the writing of Mahabharata began in the 5th century BC. The Brahmins took the initiative for this. They collected orally transmitted stories and wrote them down.
The chiefdoms called Kuru and Panchalam (the story of Mahabharata is about these) were becoming independent countries then. The kings must have wanted their history to be properly recorded. These new countries had to fight a lot of battles. Those – battles also must have found their way into the main plot.
The period from 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD was another important stage in the writing of Mahabharata. It was a time when the adoration of Vishnu was getting popular. Krishna who is an important character in Mahabharata is known as an ‘avatar’ of Vishnu.
Between the 2nd and 4th century AD, didactic sections closely resembling Manusmriti were added to Mahabharata. Thus it grew into a book of 100,000 slokas. The search for Convergence: In the Mahabharata, there are lively descriptions about the battles, forests, palaces, settlements and so on. Many historians have tried to find out the historicity of these descriptions. They were trying to find out how far the descriptions in Mahabharata are true to reality.
In 1951-52, B.B. Lal, a famous archaeologist, made extensive excavations in Hastinapur of Meerut in U.P. He tried to find out if this city is the same as the one mentioned in Mahabharata. There is similarity in the name. Lal made excavations in the upper part of the Gangetic plain, where the country called Kuru was located. The Hastinapur mentioned in Mahabharata might have been the capital of the Kurus.
B.B. Lal found evidence of 6 levels of living houses (settlements) there.
The 2nd and 3rd levels are especially important. The period of the 2nd level settlement is from 12th to 7th century BC. Remains of houses have been found here. The walls were made of bamboos, covered with mud paste, The period of the 3rd level settlement is from the 6th to 3rd century BC. Lal found that the houses of this period were built with clay bricks and baked blocks. He also noticed the remains of drainages.
The findings of Lal do not conform to the descriptions of Hastinapur in Mahabharata. In Mahabharata, the city is described as a great city with hundreds of multiple story buildings and towers. The age described in the Itihasa is the same as that of the second level settlement. But here there are no indications of any big structure.
Therefore, historians think that the description of the city of Hastinapur in Mahabharata might have been added at a later date. There are also people who believe that the description came from somebody’s fertile imagination. They point out that there is no evidence to prove the description of Hastinapur as found in the Mahabharata.
