Sri Aurobindo

Early Cultural Writings

(1890 — 1910)

Part Two. On Literature — The Poetry of Kalidasa

On the Mahabharata

Notes on the Mahabharata

of Krishna Dwypaiana Vyasa

prepared with a view to disengage the original epic of Krishna of the island from the enlargements, accretions and additions made by Vyshampaian¹, Ugrosravas² and innumerable other writers.

by Aurobind Ghose

Proposita.

An epic of the Bharatas³ was written by Krishna of the Island called Vyasa, in 24,000 couplets or something more, less at any rate than 27,000, on the subject of the great civil war of the Bharatas and the establishment of the Dhurmarajya⁴ or universal sovereignty in that house.

This epic can be disengaged almost in its entirety from the present poem⁵ of nearly 100,000 slokas.

Earlier edition of this work: Sri Aurobindo Birth Century Library: Set in 30 volumes.- Volume 3.- The Harmony of Virtue: Early Cultural Writings — 1890-1910.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Asram, 1972.- 489 p.

¹ 1972 ed.: Vaishampaiana

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² 1972 ed.: Ugrashravas

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³ 1972 ed.: Mahabharata

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⁴ 1972 ed.: Dharmarajya

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⁵ 1972 ed.: form

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