The Questionable Historicity of the Mahabharata
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: It is not uncommon in mythology to create elaborate stories around historic heroic figures to elevate them to the level of gods who have time and again formed the basis for the development of religious sects. In Hindu mythology the scene is slightly different where popular stories have been woven around Vedic themes that had nothing to do with history. Typical is the example of ‘the three strides of Viœµu ’ mentioned at about a dozen places in «gveda (RV), which in the post-Vedic period was evolved into the ‘Våmana ’ (dwarf) incarnation of Viœµu, with the original Vedic theme having been forgotten subsequently. The great Epic story “Mahåbhårata ” (Mbh) which has influenced the life and culture in the Indian subcontinent for over 2200 years is probably another such example. So far all archeological excavations (Ghosh, 1989), at some of the important places mentioned in the Epic have yielded nothing, which can corroborate the story. However, most textbooks on Indian history date the Epic around 950 BC. The recent discovery of large ruined cities belonging to probably ‘the Harappan civilization ’ 1, (1900-3000 BC) along the bed of the now dried up Ghaggar River, and a submerged site (believed to be ~1500 BC) at Dvårakå, off the coast of Gujarat by S. R. Rao (1999), has encouraged many scholars to
Author: Murthy, S. S. N.
Language: English
Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2182208525