How the Mahabharat was written

The Mahabharat stands as the most classic epic of all times and the individual behind the creation of this great epic into a written format was the great Rishi Ved Vyaas. He was the one who had witnessed the entire happenings of Mahabharat and wanted to write it down as an epic so that the future generations would come to know Dharma and how one needs to follow and practise it without falling prey to greed and desire.

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However, the task of writing the Mahabharata was not an easy one and Rishi Vyaas needed a strong and a great person of wisdom that could understand his narration and put it down exactly in the same way. Rishi Ved Vyaas approached Brahma Ji for help and mentioned his problem. Brahma Ji asked Ved Vyaas to pray to Bhagwan Ganesh who was the only one fit for the task. Ved Vyaas readily agreed and worshipped Bhagwan Ganesh with devotion. Bhagwan Ganesh appeared to Rishi Ved Vyaas and listened to his request of writing the Mahabharat while Ved Vyaas narrated it.

Bhagwan Ganesh agreed to this, but with a condition that there should be no interruption and breaks between the entire narration and his stylus (ancient age pen) should never stop in between writing. Rishi Ved Vyaas was surprised at this condition. But being the intellectual one, agreed but with a safeguard that Bhagwan Ganesh should grasp the meaning of his narration before he wrote it down. Bhagwan Ganesh too agreed for this. Thus, by accepting each other’s challenges both the intellectuals started the task of putting the Mahabharat into a written form.

Rishi Ved Vyaas started his narration and it went on without any break while Bhagwan Ganesh wrote it down without ever stopping his stylus. Sometimes, Rishi Ved Vyaas used to give complex sentences for which Bhagwan Ganesh took a small pause understanding its meaning before he wrote it down. In this pause, Rishi Ved Vyaas quickly thought of further sentences to narrate to Bhagwan Ganesh. In this way, the Mahabharat was being composed and written down by both entities of wisdom.
However, Bhgawan Ganesh’s stylus broke down because of the unending writing, but the wisdom God immediately broke his tusk and continued writing with it, so that he could keep up his word of not giving any break in the great composition. With this great gesture, Bhagwan Ganesh proved that any amount of sacrifice is worth for a great thing to be done successfully. Rishi Ved Vyaas was astounded at this gesture of Bhagwan Ganesh, yet keeping up his word continued his narration till the end without any break.

After the narration was complete, Rishi Ved Vyaas fell at the feet of Bhagwan Ganesh and thanked him for his sacrifice and all the pain he took in writing the Mahabharat. Bhagwan Ganesh smiled and mentioned that for the inordinate task of finishing the Mahabharat in the most beautiful way, the epic would also be called as Jaya, which means victory. Hence, it is believed that the reading or narrating of Mahabharat will lead one to victory in life.

With Eighteen Parvas (parts) to its name, the Mahabharat stands as one of the greatest epic of our Sanatana Dharma. It has great principles of Dharma and which mentions how man needs to keep the factors of power, greed and ego in control and how Dharma emerges victorious in spite of going through many adversities.