- "The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa."
Narratives that are longer and more complex, often featuring multiple characters and intertwining storylines.
Pantheons: The different gods and goddesses worshipped in a particular culture or mythological tradition.
Creation Myths: Stories about how the world and its creatures came into being.
Hero Cults: Mythical or legendary beings with extraordinary abilities and characteristics.
The Underworld: The realm of the dead and deities associated with it, such as Hades or Anubis.
Oral Tradition: The practices and customs of passing myths and legends down through spoken word.
Archetypes: Cultural symbols and motifs recurring in myths and epics across different cultures.
Mythic Folklore: Local stories and beliefs about supernatural beings or events, sometimes incorporated into myths and legends.
Heroic Journeys: The archetypal narrative in which a mythological hero undergoes trials and challenges to obtain some great prize, such as Odysseus or Gilgamesh.
Comparative Mythology: The study and comparison of myths and legends from different cultures to find similarities and differences.
Sacred Objects: The importance of some special object in a myth, such as the holy grail or the sword in the stone.
Indian Mythology: The Indian mythology consists of a multitude of epics such as Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana, etc. These epics depict the stories of gods, goddesses, and human beings and their relationships with each other and the world.
Greek Mythology: The Greek mythology includes the epics such as the Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer. These epics deal with the adventures of various gods such as Zeus, Athena, and Apollo and their relationships with human beings.
Norse Mythology: The Norse Mythology is known for its epic tales such as the Prose Edda, Poetic Edda, and Nibelungenlied. These tales include stories about gods such as Odin, Thor, and Loki and their relationships with the cosmos and human beings.
Chinese Mythology: Chinese Mythology has epics such as Journey to the West and Fengshen Yanyi, which depict the adventures of gods, immortals, and humans as they move through the world.
Japanese Mythology: Japanese Mythology includes epics such as The Tale of Genji, Kojiki, and Nihon Shoki. These epics portray the stories of gods and goddesses, including Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi, and their relationships with humans.
Mesopotamian Mythology: Mesopotamian Mythology has epics such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, which depict the adventures of heroes and their relationships with gods.
Egyptian Mythology: Egyptian Mythology features the epics such as the Book of the Dead, which depicts the journey of the soul through life and afterlife.
Celtic Mythology: Celtic Mythology consists of epics such as The Táin, which explores the struggles between the gods and the humans.
- "It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas."
- "It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four 'goals of life' or puruṣārtha (12.161)."
- "Among the principal works and stories in the Mahābhārata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, the story of Shakuntala, the story of Pururava and Urvashi, the story of Savitri and Satyavan, the story of Kacha and Devayani, the story of Rishyasringa, and an abbreviated version of the Rāmāyaṇa."
- "Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa."
- "The bulk of the Mahābhārata was probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE."
- "The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as 'the longest poem ever written'. Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines, and long prose passages."
- "At about 1.8 million words in total, the Mahābhārata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa."
- "W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahābhārata in the context of world civilization to that of the Bible, the Quran, the works of Homer, Greek drama, or the works of William Shakespeare."
- "The title is translated as 'Great Bharat (India),' or 'the story of the great descendants of Bharata.'" (Note: It is challenging to provide direct quotes for all questions as some require a combination of information from multiple parts of the paragraph. However, the provided quotes address each question individually.)