A History of Sanskrit Literature c13.12

c13.12

The *Mahābhārata*, which in its present form consists of over 100,000 *çlokas*, equal to about eight times as much as the Iliad and Odyssey put together, is by far the longest poem known to literary history. It is a conglomerate of epic and didactic matter divided into eighteen books called *parvan*, with a nineteenth, the *Harivamça*, as a supplement. The books vary very considerably in length, the twelfth being the longest, with nearly 14,000, the seventeenth the shortest, with only 312 *çlokas*. All the eighteen books, excepting the eighth and the last three, are divided into subordinate *parvans*; each book is also cut up into chapters (*adhyāyas*).