History · Ch 3 — Kinship, Caste and Class — Early Societies
Language and content
Language and content
The Mahabharata is not a single, uniform composition. When historians study it, they first look at two basic features: the language it was written in, and the kind of content it contains.
The version of the Mahabharata that scholars most often refer to is in Sanskrit. However, this is not the complex, highly formal Sanskrit of the Vedas or of the royal prashastis (inscriptions praising kings) you read about in Chapter 2. The Sanskrit of the Mahabharata is far simpler. Because of this simplicity, it was probably understood by a much wider audience, not just by learned priests.
Historians classify the contents of the Mahabharata into two broad categories:
- Narrative: These are the sections that contain the story itself — the plot, the characters, the battles, and the dramatic events.
- Didactic: These are sections that contain prescriptions about social norms — instructions on how people ought to behave, what is right and wrong, and the rules of dharma.
The word "didactic" means something that is meant for the purpose of instruction or teaching a moral lesson.
This division is not watertight. The didactic sections often include stories to make their point, and the narrative sections frequently carry a social message. Nevertheless, most historians agree on a key point: the Mahabharata was originally meant to be a dramatic, moving story. The long didactic portions, which lay down rules and norms, were probably added to the text at a later date.
The most famous didactic section of the entire epic is the Bhagavad Gita. This is the advice that Lord Krishna gives to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, just before the war begins. It is a core text of Hindu philosophy and is frequently depicted in painting and sculpture. …
Didactic refers to something that is meant for purposes of instruction. Historians classify the Mahabharata's contents under two broad heads — the narrative (sections that contain stories) and the didactic (sections that …
Figure 3.8 is an eighteenth-century painting that shows the single most famous scene from the Mahabharata: Krishna counselling Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, just before the great war begins. This is the moment of the Bhagavad Gita — the "Song of the Lord" — which is the most important didactic (instructional) section of the entire epic.
In the painting, the two central figures are Krishna and Arjuna, seated together in a chariot. The chariot is drawn by white horses, and it stands on the battlefield between the two armies. Arjuna is shown in a state of moral crisis: he has laid down his bow and arrows, overwhelmed by grief and confusion at the prospect of fighting and killing his own kinsmen, teachers, and friends. Krishna, who is Arjuna's charioteer and also his divine guide, is turned toward him, gesturing as he speaks. The composition makes clear that Krishna is the one giving advice — his posture and hand gestures indicate teaching, not fighting.
The battlefield setting is suggested by the presence of soldiers, chariots, and weapons in the background, but the focus is entirely on the conversation between the two figures. The painting does not show the actual fighting — it captures the moment before the war, when the moral and philosophical questions are being debated. This is exactly what makes the scene didactic: the purpose is not to depict action but to convey instruction about dharma (righteous duty), the nature of the soul, and the ethics of war. …