Mb001a. Mahabharata - The Story In Brief Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

The great Mahabharata War is supposed to have taken place in the year 3139 BC at Kurukshetra, India, according to one set of research scholars. Another set placed it between 950 BC and 1500 BC. It is the biggest classic ever composed by humanity, several times more than the Illiad and the Odyssey of the Poet Homer.

The Sage Veda Vyasa wrote the original version in the Sanskrit language. It was written in 18 volumes, containing more than 1 lakhs verses of four lines each. It is one of the great epic stories that stood the test of the time over centuries like another great epic Ramayana.

Mahabharata tells about the two royal families, Pandavas and Kauravas, and the bitter war fought by them for eighteen days. It speaks volume about the truth and non-violence, justice and fair play, good and evil and also of the evil effects of gambling. It is more descriptive on the lifestyle of men and women of those ancient days.

The Kauravas, one hundred sons of King Dhritarashtra were jealous of the Pandavas, five sons of King Pandu. The senior most head of the family, Bhisma tried his best to bring a permanent peace between these two families. Pandavas, who were cheated in a foul gambling dice game by Kauravas, had to go in exile to the forest for 13 years, having lost all their possessions in the gambling.

After completion of 13 years, they claimed their kingdom back, but it was refused by Duryodhana, the eldest among the hundered sons of the King Dhiritarashtra. A war broke out that was fought for 18 days at Kurukshetra, India. Finally, Pandavas won with the help of Lord Krishna and Kauravas miserably perished.

I have brought this ancient Indian story in 120 episodes for the reading pleasure of the Poetry Lovers. It was not an easy task for me to write this in a condensed poetry form, but still I did it as a trial to see its effect in form of English verses. I am grateful to all those well wishers, who helped me in making this work possible.

Readers are requested to go through the original version that will give a full picture of the story and to know more about the Indian civilization far back 5000 years.