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The Mahabharata 8921 Views

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Description:

The Mahabha-what-now? Although you may not be as familiar with this epic text as you are with the Bible, it's just as famous in other parts of the world. And, when we say "epic," we mean that it's actually an epic. 200,000 individual verse lines!

Author:

Author / Vyasa - Vyasa

Language:

English Language

Subjects:

Literature / World Literature

Tags:

Form / Short Story

Common Core Standards:

Transcript

00:01
The Mahabharata, a la Shmoop. The Mahabharata...<<ma-ha-bah-rah-tah>>
00:09
...is the world's longest epic poem...
00:13
...as well as an awesome tongue-twister you can use to torture your younger siblings.
00:19
Our challenge?
00:20
To summarize this uber-lengthy thousand page Sanskrit masterpiece...

00:25
...in an eentsy-weentsy, itty-bitty video.
00:27
Okay, ready? Here we go... All right, so there are these two families...
00:35
the Kauravas (Kah-rah-vas) and the Pandavas...(Pon-da-vas)
00:38
...and they're fighting for the throne of Hastinapura. (Has-teen-a-poo-rah)
00:49
It's like when you and your sister are fighting over bathroom time, except...
00:53
...this throne had a little more at stake. The Kauravas' only hope for the throne, Dhritarashtra
00:59
(Dri-tah-rash-tra), is born blind, so he's out. No way he can be India's next ruler.
01:08
Yeah, there weren't a lot of discrimination lawsuits being filed in those days.
01:14
So, because the Kauravas couldn't provide a suitable candidate, the throne fell to Pandu
01:19
of the Pandavas.
01:21
Things go well for the family for a while...
01:23
...until a couple generations later, when this Yudhishtira (You-deesh-tee-rah) guy sits
01:28
on the throne.
01:29
He loses his entire kingdom...in a dice game.
01:34
And you thought your uncle with the weekly poker game had a problem.
01:39
The Pandavas are exiled for thirteen years.
01:43
But they eventually decide they've had enough of this exile business.
01:47
They return so they can try to take back their kingdom, but... the Kauravas aren't having
01:52
it. So naturally, the two families start a big
01:54
ol' military conflict to settle matters... the great battle of Kurukshetra. (Koo-rook-shet-rah)
02:01
It's here that we are introduced to the character of Krishna, who drives a chariot in the battle...
02:05
and we'll soon find out he has a secret or two in his back pocket...
02:09
The Pandavas ultimately win the battle, so they swoop in and announce that they're in
02:14
charge. However, once the family is back in power,
02:17
they begin examining their spirituality more than ever before...
02:24
...and they experience some pretty serious revelations...
02:30
They ultimately decide they're going to renounce everything and retire up to the Himalayas.
02:35
Sort of their "Palm Beach." Things draw to a close with the death of Krishna...
02:40
...whom we learn is an incarnation of the Lord Vishnu.
02:43
After they become aware of Krishna's divinity, the Pandava brothers all head up to Heaven.
02:49
But things aren't looking so hot for everyone still on planet Earth.
02:57
As the epic poem ends, humankind enters its final "age"...
03:01
...and, in typical epic fashion, once the hero is out of the picture, everything pretty
03:06
much goes down the toilet.
03:08
Okay, that's the Mahabharata in a nutshell.
03:14
If you plan to read the entire thing...
03:17
...hope you're hungry for a very large nut.
Full Transcript