Markandeyapurana 1.6

1.6

atrārthaścaiva dharmaśca kāmo mokṣaśca varṇyate /
parasparānubandhāśca sānubandhāśca te pṛthak //

(Jaimini spoke.):
“Sir! the high-souled Vyāsa related the story of the Mahābhārata, which is replete with splendid spotless collections of various Śāstras, which is characterized by accuracy regarding the different classes, is embellished with beautiful words, and contains complete knowledge of primā facie assertions, and established conclusions. As Viṣṇu is chief among the gods, as the brahman chief among men, and as the crest-jewel chief among all decorations, as the axe[1] is the best among weapons, as the mind best among the organs, so in this world is the Mahābhārata the best among all the Śāstras. Here are described both Wealth and Virtue, Love, and Final emancipation from transmigration; these have both reciprocal and peculiar consequences. It is the best Dharma-śāstra, it is the most eminent Artha-śāstra; it too is the foremost Kāmaśāstra, as well as the noblest Mokṣa-śāstra. It has been declared, Sir, by Veda-Vyāsa the wise, to be the authority for the sacred and maxims of the laws of the four periods of a brahman’s life. For this Mahāśāstra has been so constructed, dear Sir, by Vyāsa the noble in deeds, that although beset with difficulties it is not overthrown by them. The earth has been freed from the dust of passion by the stream of Vyāsa’s words, which has descended from the mountain of the Veda, and has swept away the trees of bad reasoning. Therefore have I come to thee, Sir, being desirous to know truly the story of Vyāsa, in which melodious sounds are the geese, the noble story is the splendid lotus, the words are the expanse of water, and the Vedas are the great lake—this precious and long story of the Mahābhārata. Why was Janārdana Vāsudeva, who is the cause of the creation preservation and destruction of the world, although devoid of qualities, endued with humanity? And why was Drupada’s daughter Kṛṣṇa the common wife of the five sons of Pāṇḍu? for on this point we feel great perplexity. Why did the mighty Baladeva Halāyudha expiate his brahmanicide by engaging in a pilgrimage? And how was it that the unmarried heroic high-souled sons of Draupadī, whose protector was Pāṇḍu, were slain, as if they had no protector? Deign to recount all this to me here at length; for sages like thee are ever the instructors of the ignorant.”