Mahabharata - World's Longest Epic Poem
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa(History). With more than 74,000 verses and about 1.8 million words in total, the Mahabharata is one of the longest epic poems in the world. It is roughly ten times the size of the Iliad and Odyssey combined, roughly five times longer than Dante's Divine Comedy, and about four times the size of the Ramayana. The great war of Mahabharata between the Pandavas and the Kauravas happened in 3139 BC. The Pandavas, after winning the Mahabharata war, ruled Hastinapur for 36 years and 8 months until the beginning of Kaliyug in3102 BC. Since the Mahabharata war and the beginning of Kaliyug were important historical events, they have been widely documented in Indian scriptures and frequently referenced by great scholars such as Mahakavi Kalidas, the greatest poet, writer and literary figure of his time and Aryabhatta, the greatest astronomer and mathemati...