DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0233
156 INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
Elamite neolithic pottery, first appears on Babylonian
seals, during the Kassite Dynasty, suggests, however,
that the Kassites came from the east and not the west,
with the horse, called in Babylon " the ass of the east".
The great epic Mahdbhdratay " the Iliad of India",
may ha\c been founded on the hero songs which cele-
brated the Aryan tribal wars in India. Its action is
centred in Kuru-kshetra, "the country of the Kurus",
in which the Bharatas had settled. Two rival families
contend for supremacy; these are the Kauravas (the
Kurus) and the Pandavas who ai j supported by the
Panchalas and others. The Pandavas and Kauravas are
cousins and the descendants of the eponymous King
Bharata. In the ifoyal family tree the tribal names of
Kuru and Puru appear as names of kings.
A popular rendering is given in several chapters which
follow of the epic narrative embedded in the Maha-
bhdrata, which is about eight times as long as the Iliad
and Odyssey combined. This monumental work is
divided into eighteen books; a supplementary nineteenth
book alone exceeds in length the two famous Greek epics.
As we have stated, the Mah&bhirata had its origin as
an epic prior to b.c. 500. It was added to from time to
time until it assumed its present great bulk. The kernel
of the narrative, however, which appears to have dealt
with the early wars between the Kurus and Panchalas,
must be placed beyond b.c. iooo.
Our narrative begins with the romantic stories which
gathered round the names of the legendary ancestors of
the Kauravas and the Pandavas. The sympathies of the
Brahmanic compilers are with the latter, who are symbol-
ized as "a vast tree formed of religion and virtue", while
their opponents are " a great tree formed of passion ".
Elamite neolithic pottery, first appears on Babylonian
seals, during the Kassite Dynasty, suggests, however,
that the Kassites came from the east and not the west,
with the horse, called in Babylon " the ass of the east".
The great epic Mahdbhdratay " the Iliad of India",
may ha\c been founded on the hero songs which cele-
brated the Aryan tribal wars in India. Its action is
centred in Kuru-kshetra, "the country of the Kurus",
in which the Bharatas had settled. Two rival families
contend for supremacy; these are the Kauravas (the
Kurus) and the Pandavas who ai j supported by the
Panchalas and others. The Pandavas and Kauravas are
cousins and the descendants of the eponymous King
Bharata. In the ifoyal family tree the tribal names of
Kuru and Puru appear as names of kings.
A popular rendering is given in several chapters which
follow of the epic narrative embedded in the Maha-
bhdrata, which is about eight times as long as the Iliad
and Odyssey combined. This monumental work is
divided into eighteen books; a supplementary nineteenth
book alone exceeds in length the two famous Greek epics.
As we have stated, the Mah&bhirata had its origin as
an epic prior to b.c. 500. It was added to from time to
time until it assumed its present great bulk. The kernel
of the narrative, however, which appears to have dealt
with the early wars between the Kurus and Panchalas,
must be placed beyond b.c. iooo.
Our narrative begins with the romantic stories which
gathered round the names of the legendary ancestors of
the Kauravas and the Pandavas. The sympathies of the
Brahmanic compilers are with the latter, who are symbol-
ized as "a vast tree formed of religion and virtue", while
their opponents are " a great tree formed of passion ".