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15. GITA
CHAPTER 15
GITA AS IT WAS
"Is the Mahabharata epic -- the text of 100,000 verses -- which is a source for the events of the War to be taken as history? The epic itself claims to have been originally just 8,800 verses composed by Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa and called the Jaya. Later, it became 24,000 verses, called the Bharata, when it was recited by Vaisampayana. Finally, it was recited as the 100,000 versed epic (the Mahabharata) by Ugrasravas, the son of Lomaharsana. Thus the tradition acknowledges that the Mahabharata grew in stages. The core of the story is very ancient"
Subhash Kak http://www.ece.Isu.edu/kak/Mahabharatall.pdf
Mahabharata war probably was a real war, which was located somewhere near Delhi area between two tribes over power. However, it is evident that the picture developed in the Mahabharata story is a vastly exaggerated one. That is not really very surprising since exaggeration and ballooning up were part of the style of literature in those days. It was still only a story telling and not a scripture. The
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