Q 01/05

To which sage is the authorship of the Mahabharata traditionally attributed?

A) Valmiki

B) Panini

C) Kalidasa

D) Vyasa

Answer · why

D) Vyasa

He is also a major character in the epic, fathering Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura.

Q 02/05

According to the epic's first section, which god wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation?

A) Saraswati

B) Hanuman

C) Brahma

D) Ganesha

Answer · why

D) Ganesha

Scholars consider this a later interpolation, and the Critical Edition leaves it out.

Q 03/05

What is the other major Sanskrit epic of ancient India, alongside the Mahabharata?

A) The Puranas

B) The Panchatantra

C) The Ramayana

D) The Rigveda

Answer · why

C) The Ramayana

Both are classed as smriti and itihasa texts, and the Mahabharata even contains an abbreviated Ramayana.

Q 04/05

Roughly how many shlokas does the longest version of the Mahabharata contain?

A) About 8,800

B) About 24,000

C) Over 1 million

D) Over 100,000

Answer · why

D) Over 100,000

That is about 1.8 million words, roughly ten times the Iliad and Odyssey combined.

Q 05/05

The Mahabharata is roughly how many times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey combined?

A) Ten

B) Four

C) Fifty

D) Two

Answer · why

A) Ten

It is about four times the length of the Ramayana but still 2.5 times shorter than the Kyrgyz Epic of Manas.