The Complexities of The Mahabharata: Some Issues of Interpretation

Abstract

The Mahabharata by Veda Vyas is not an open-ended text with multiple beginnings and inconclusive ending exactly in the literal sense. It is true that it has been rewritten by many choosing certain portions in their own creative ways producing a multilogue. Many of them differ so much from the original source also. Some have gone so much away from the original that the new narratives are not at all representing the facts, rather often they are rejecting and reshaping them into altogether new narratives suiting their objectives. The various ideology groups have also tended to represent some textual parts or the sub-narratives of it quite differently and often conflicting or contradicting with the original source.