Mahabharata Critical Edition
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Questions and Answers

Who led the ambitious project of preparing a critical edition of the Mahabharata?

  • V.S.Sukthankar, a noted Indian Sanskritist (correct)
  • A Brahmana scholar
  • A team of historians from the 19th century
  • A scholar from Kerala

What was the initial task in preparing the critical edition of the Mahabharata?

  • Collecting Sanskrit manuscripts of the text from different parts of the country (correct)
  • Comparing verses from each manuscript
  • Documenting regional variations in footnotes
  • Publishing the selected verses in several volumes

How many years did the project of preparing the critical edition of the Mahabharata take to complete?

  • 20 years
  • 47 years (correct)
  • 100 years
  • 13,000 years

What is reflected in the regional variations documented in the critical edition of the Mahabharata?

<p>The complex processes that shaped early social histories (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary source of understanding social histories in early India?

<p>Texts written in Sanskrit by and for Brahmanas (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How did historians in the 19th and 20th centuries initially approach texts written in Sanskrit?

<p>They took the texts at face value (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What percentage of the 13,000 pages is devoted to regional variations in the critical edition of the Mahabharata?

<p>More than half (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What languages were studied by scholars subsequent to the initial focus on Sanskrit texts?

<p>Pali, Prakrit, and Tamil (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata

  • Initiated in 1919 under the leadership of V.S. Sukthankar, a noted Indian Sanskritist
  • Involved collecting Sanskrit manuscripts from different parts of the country, written in various scripts
  • Team developed a method to compare verses from each manuscript, selecting common verses and publishing them in multiple volumes (over 13,000 pages)
  • Project took 47 years to complete

Characteristics of the Sanskrit Manuscripts

  • Showed common elements in the story, evident in manuscripts from all over the subcontinent (Kashmir, Nepal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu)
  • Revealed enormous regional variations in the transmission of the text over the centuries
  • Variations documented in footnotes and appendices, covering over half of the 13,000 pages

Implications of the Variations

  • Reflective of complex social histories shaped by dialogues between dominant traditions and local ideas and practices
  • Characterized by moments of conflict and consensus

Understanding Social History

  • Initially, historians in the 19th and 20th centuries took Sanskrit texts at face value, believing they represented actual practices
  • Subsequent studies of other traditions (Pali, Prakrit, Tamil) revealed that normative Sanskrit texts were authoritative, but also questioned and rejected
  • Important to consider this when reconstructing social history

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Learn about the ambitious project of creating a critical edition of the Mahabharata, led by V.S.Sukthankar, and the process of collecting and comparing Sanskrit manuscripts. Understand the significance of this project in Indian literature and scholarship.

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