The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, though the origins of the epic probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa. Among the principal works and stories in the Mahābhārata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Rāmāyaṇa, and the story of Ṛṣyasringa, often considered as works in their own right. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four 'goals of life' or puruṣārtha (12.161). Along with the Rāmāyaṇa, it forms the HinduItihasa. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their succession. The Mahābhārata ( US: / m ə h ɑː ˈ b ɑːr ə t ə/, UK: / ˌ m ɑː h ə ˈ b ɑːr ə t ə/ Sanskrit: महाभारतम्, Mahābhāratam, pronounced ) is one of the two major Sanskritepics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa.
Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 18th–19th-century painting
