The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c9.s2.7

c9.s2.7

Though primarily a court epic to be recited before priests and aristocrats at great royal sacrifices, the Mahābhārata is also meant to be ‘sung’ to the people at large. According to tradition, it is connected with the White Yajurveda. It calls itself the fifth Veda and a Dharma Śāstra.³ But it is really an encyclopædia in which divergent and even contradictory ideas on religion, morals and politics are put in close juxtaposition. J. Dahlmann tried to prove that the Mahābhārata was originally composed as a law-book by a single author in the sixth or fifth century B.C., but his arguments are rather weak. In point of area, the Epic pertains to the western districts of the Madhyadeśa or middle country, where the principal theatre of events is situated. It is true that the later framework of epic brings in the kings