1. Context of the Mahabharata

(see introduction) INDIAN MYTHOLOGY Wikipedia provides a compact and organized overview of Indian (Hindu) texts. The Mahabharata, along with the epic Ramayana, falls into the category Itihasa, meaning "History", and may also be known as a "Maha Kavya" or Great Poem". Before being able to fully appreciate the Mahabharata, one must know about Vishnu and his ten avatars including Krishna, who shows up in the instance of the context of the Mahabharata. Krishna's most important contribution to the Mahabharata is the delivering of the Bhagvad Gita, the God's song, to Arjuna. Arjuna, a warrior of unparalleled ability, in the midst of a nervous breakdown refuses to battle with his family members, who stand ready and waiting on both sides for him to start the war. At this point, Krishna reveals himself to be Vishnu and explains to Arjuna that he is merely a player in the big game, as are his family members, and he must fulfill his duty without thinking of consequences. In Chapter 4, Verse 7 of the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says: yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata abhyuttanam adharmasya tada'tmanam srjamy aham "O Bharata (Arjuna), whenever there is a decline of righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself." This quote encompasses Vishnu's role in the epic: He has come as Krishna to end this era of unrighteousness. Indeed, not many men remain to be unrighteous after the war.

CHRONOLOGICAL & GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT There is yet to be a unanimous belief of the time-frame in which the Mahabharata was set, although given speculations about the war, 1200 - 800 BCE has been a safe guess (see further discussion). The epic talks about the war between factions of the Kuru clan, who are speculated to span the 1200 - 900 BCE time frame, which resides within the Indian Iron Age, or Vedic Period. All three of the major cities mentioned in the epic can be recognized today. The story begins with the throne at Hastinapur, a city which still bears the same name and is located in present-day north-eastern state in India, Uttar Pradesh. Yudhishthir, a successor, bases his capital at Indraprastha, which is included in present-day Delhi. The ruins of the palace that he commissioned can be found still. The war of Mahabharata takes place in the city Kurukshetra, named after Kuru, the ancestor of the players in the epic. The city still bears the same name and is located in the present-day central Indian state of Haryana. see part 2: The Epic Mahabharata