CHAPTER 5
The Sanskrit Epics
John Brockington
“Whatever is here concerning the four aims of mankind may be found
elsewhere, but what is absent from here does not exist anywhere.” This asser-
tion, which prefaces and concludes the Maha ̄bha ̄rata narrative (at 1.56.33
and 18.5.38), illustrates well the encyclopedic nature of the larger of the two
Sanskrit epics in its present form. The two epics are indeed among the largest
literary works in the world: the Maha ̄bha ̄rata, “the great <story/war> of
Bharata’s descendants,” traditionally contains 100,000 verses and even the text
established in the Critical Edition has nearly 75,000, while the other epic, the
Ra ̄ma ̄yan.a, “the journey/career of Ra ̄ma,” though less than a third as long,
still contains almost 20,000 verses. However, these originally orally trans-
mitted bardic poems have grown to this immense size over an extended period
of time, from around the fifth century bceto the fourth century ceby the
usual reckoning, and in the process have gained substantial additions to their
narratives and also – particularly in the case of the Maha ̄bha ̄rata– didactic
elements, while their basically heroic ethos has been transformed into a reli-
gious outlook as a major figure in each came to be identified as an avata ̄ra,
“descent,” of Vis.n.u.
Originating in the period following that of the Vedic literature and reflecting
the interests and concerns of the ks.atriyaaristocracy, the epics reveal much
about the process by which the more theistic emphases of classical Hinduism
emerged from late Vedic ritualism. Their origins may perhaps be traced to some
of the ballads about gods and heroes recited within the overall context of Vedic
rituals, but their real growth was owed to the bardic tradition which emerged
at the courts ofks.atriyarulers, where stories about the exploits of heroes were
naturally welcomed. The framework stories of both epics present them as oral
compositions and show the importance not only of the bard or reciter, but