India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s3.t1.68

c10.s3.t1.68

*MAHĀBHĀRATA*—Pāṇini knows of a *Bhārata* and a *Mahā-bhārata*, (VI.2.38), and refers to its three principal characters, Vāsudeva, Arjuna (IV.3.98) and Yudhishṭhira (VIII.3.95). This admittedly old reference to the Epic throws light on its evolution. In a well-known passage of the Āśvalāyana Gṛihya-sūtra, the two names, *Bhārata* and *Mahābhārata* are similarly mentioned together (III.4.). Utgikar after examining the passage critically observed that 'the mention of the *Bhārata* and the *Mbh.* in the *ĀG Sūtra* is to be held as textually genuine and justified by other important considerations' (*Mbh. in ĀG Sūtra*, Proc. 1st Oriental Conf., Vol. II, p. 60). The *Bhārata* was the original work of about 24,000 stanzas attributed to Vyāsa, which was preserved and popularised by the bards. The Bhṛigus, later, expanded the *Bhārata* adding to it considerable political, philosophical and religious matter (*Dharma* and *Nīti*) and legends (*Upākhyanas*) (V. S. Sukthankar, The Bhṛigus and the Bhārata, a text-historical study, *ABORI.*, XVIII, pp. 15-76). Āśvalāyana's mention of the Epic as a text to be re-cited may be due to the fact that Āśvalāyana was a direct pupil of Śaunaka whose name is closely associated with the final re-daction of the *Mahābhārata*.