Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c5.1

c5.1

The date of the *Mahābhārata* remains still a matter of contention; Dahlmann's theory⁸ placed the *Mahābhārata* in the fifth or sixth century before Christ. His contention that it was the work of a single man has long been given up. The *Mahābhārata* is not the work of a single hand and as pointed out by Professor Hopkins the crystallisation of its present form may be put between the 4th century B.C. and 4th century A.D., though the latter limit seems to be too late. We are not concerned in our present study with the external and internal evidences which have been impressively marshalled to prove the date of the *Mahābhārata* or more correctly a particular part of the *Mahābhārata*;