THE MAHABHARATA

The Mahabharata is perhaps the world's longest epic poem, consisting of over 100,000 couplets, including the Bhagavad-Gita.  Considered a treasure house of Indian lore, the poem is divided into books called parvas.  It was composed over a period of eight hundred years (400 B.C. to 400 A.D. approximately).  

Expanding upon and illustrating the truths of the Vedas, the Mahabharata tells the story of King Bharata's descendants, the cousins Pandavas and Kauravas.  The purpose of the poem, according to the reputed author of the epic, Vyasa, is to sing the glory of God, the dynastic war between the Pandavas and Kauravas merely providing the occasion.