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Preface-5-MBH-Specialties

Mahaabhaarat, one of the two main epics of India, the other one is Raamaayan, has its own specialties --

(1) Mahaabhaarat is the longest poem, not only written in Sanskrit language, but in the whole world.

(2) The Mahaabhaarat consists of over 200,000 lines or 1.8 million words, roughly ten times the length of the Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (Greek literature, written in 8th century BC) combined, or nearly 3/4 of the length of the script to Morrison's epic DC super-mega-crossover event, Final Crisis. Iliad has 15,693 lines.

(3) Composed by the Avataar (incarnation) of Vishnu Ved Vyaas and written by another god, Ganesh - Shiv's son, himself.

(4) It is the story of five generations -
Shaantanu ->
Shaantanu, -> Bheeshm, Chitraangad, Vichitraveerya ->
Vichitraveerya ->  Dhritraashtra, Paandu, Vidur ->
Dhritraashtra ->  100 Kaurav,    AND  Paandu ->  5 Paandav ->  Yudhishthir, Bheem, Arjun, Nakul and Sahadev
All 100 Kaurav were killed in MBH war    AND   Arjun ->  Abhimanyu -> Pareekshit -> Janamejaya

So   Shaantanu  ->  Vichitraveerya  ->  Dhritraashtra and Paandu  ->  Kaurav and Paandav  ->  Pareekshit  ->  Janamejaya