The Mahabharata (Sanskrit '''' , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the ''Ramayana''. The epic is part of ''itihasa''.

Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, the ''Mahabharata'' contains much philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or ''purusharthas'' (12.161). The latter are enumerated as ''dharma'' (right action), ''artha'' (purpose), ''kama'' (pleasure), and ''moksha'' (liberation). Among the principal works and stories that are a part of the ''Mahabharata'' are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Ramayana, and the Rishyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.

Traditionally, the authorship of the ''Mahabharata'' is attributed to Vyasa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are not thought to be appreciably older than around 400 BCE, though the origins of the story probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE. The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (ca. 4th c. CE). The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty". According to the ''Mahabharata'' itself, the tale is extended from a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply ''Bhārata''.

With about one hundred thousand verses, long prose passages, or about 1.8 million words in total, the Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' combined, or about four times the length of the Ramayana. W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahabharata to world civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the works of Homer, Greek drama, and the Qur'an.

Textual history and structure

The epic is traditionally ascribed to Vyasa, who is also a major character in the epic. The first section of the ''Mahabharata'' states that it was Ganesha who, at the request of Vyasa, wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation. Ganesha is said to have agreed to write it only on condition that Vyasa never pause in his recitation. Vyasa agreed, provided Ganesha took the time to understand what was said before writing it down.

The epic employs the story within a story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and secular works. It is recited to the King Janamejaya who is the great-grandson of Arjuna, by Vaisampayana, a disciple of Vyasa. The recitation of Vaisampayana to Janamejaya is then recited again by a professional storyteller named Ugrasrava Sauti, many years later, to an assemblage of sages performing the 12 year long sacrifice for King Saunaka Kulapati in the Naimisha forest.

''Jaya'', the core of Mahābhārata is structured in the form of a dialogue between Kuru king Dhritarashtra and Sanjaya, his advisor and chariot driver. Sanjaya narrates each incident of the Kurukshetra War, fought in 18 days, as and when it happened. Dhritarāshtra sometimes asks questions and doubts and sometimes laments, knowing about the destruction caused by the war, to his sons, friends and kinsmen. He also feels guilty, due to his own role, that led to this war, destructive to the entire Indian subcontinent.

In the beginning, Sanjaya gives a description of the various continents of the Earth, the other planets, and focuses on the Indian Subcontinent and gives an elaborate list of hundreds of kingdoms, tribes, provinces, cities, towns, villages, rivers, mountains, forests, etc. of the (ancient) Indian Subcontinent (Bhārata Varsha). He also explains about the military formations adopted by each side on each day, the death of each hero and the details of each war-racings. Some 18 chapters of Vyasa's Jaya constitutes the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred text of the Hindus. Thus, this work of Vyasa, called Jaya deals with diverse subjects like geography, history, warfare, religion and morality. According to Mahabharata itself, Vaisampayana's ''Bharata'' expanded on the story, with Vyasa's Jaya embedded within it. Ugrasrava eventually composed the final Mahabharata, with both Vyasa's Jaya and Vaisampayana's Bharata embedded within the epic.

Accretion and redaction

Research on the ''Mahabharata'' has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating various layers within the text. Some elements of the present ''Mahabharata'' can be traced back to Vedic times. The background to the ''Mahabharata'' suggests the origin of the epic occurs at a time "after the very early Vedic period" and before "the first Indian 'empire' was to rise in the third century B.C.". That this is "a date not too far removed from the eighth or ninth century B.C." is likely. It is generally agreed that "Unlike the Vedas, which have to be preserved letter-perfect, the epic was a popular work whose reciters would inevitably conform to changes in language and style," so the earliest ''surviving'' components of this dynamic text are believed to be no older than the earliest ''external'' references we have to the epic, which may include an allusion in Panini's fourth century BCE grammar (''Ashtādhyāyī'' 4:2:56). It is estimated that the Sanskrit text probably reached something of a "final form" by the early Gupta period (about the 4th century CE). Vishnu Sukthankar, editor of the first great critical edition of the Mahabharata, commented: "It is useless to think of reconstructing a fluid text in a literally original shape, on the basis of an archetype and a ''stemma codicum''. What then is possible? Our objective can only be to reconstruct ''the oldest form of the text which it is possible to reach'' on the basis of the manuscript material available." That manuscript evidence is somewhat late, given its material composition and the climate of India, but it is very extensive.

The ''Mahabharata'' itself (1.1.61) distinguishes a core portion of 24,000 verses, the ''Bharata'' proper, as opposed to additional secondary material, while the ''Ashvalayana Grhyasutra'' (3.4.4) makes a similar distinction. At least three redactions of the text are commonly recognized: ''Jaya'' (Victory) with 8,800 verses attributed to Vyasa, ''Bharata'' with 24,000 verses as recited by Vaisampayana, and finally the ''Mahabharata'' as recited by Ugrasrava Sauti with over 100,000 verses. However, some scholars such as John Brockington, argue that ''Jaya'' and ''Bharata'' refer to the same text, and ascribe the theory of ''Jaya'' with 8,800 verses to a misreading of a verse in ''Adiparvan'' (1.1.81). The redaction of this large body of text was carried out after formal principles, emphasizing the numbers 18 and 12. The addition of the latest parts may be dated by the absence of the ''Anushasana-parva'' and the ''Virata parva'' from the "Spitzer manuscript", the oldest surviving Sanskrit philosophical manuscript dated to Kushan Period (200 CE), that contains among other things a list of the books in the ''Mahabharata''. From this evidence, it is likely that the redaction into 18 books took place in the first century. An alternative division into 20 parvas appears to have co-existed for some time. The division into 100 sub-parvas (mentioned in Mbh. 1.2.70) is older, and most parvas are named after one of their constituent sub-parvas. The ''Harivamsa'' consists of the final two of the 100 sub-parvas, and was considered an appendix (''khila'') to the ''Mahabharata'' proper by the redactors of the 18 parvas.

According to what one character says at Mbh. 1.1.50, there were three versions of the epic, beginning with ''Manu'' (1.1.27), ''Astika'' (1.3, sub-parva 5) or ''Vasu'' (1.57), respectively. These versions would correspond to the addition of one and then another 'frame' settings of dialogues. The ''Vasu'' version would omit the frame settings and begin with the account of the birth of Vyasa. The ''astika'' version would add the ''sarpasattra'' and ''ashvamedha'' material from Brahmanical literature, introduce the name ''Mahabharata'', and identify Vyasa as the work's author. The redactors of these additions were probably Pancharatrin scholars who according to Oberlies (1998) likely retained control over the text until its final redaction. Mention of the Huna in the ''Bhishma-parva'' however appears to imply that this parva may have been edited around the 4th century.

The Adi-parva includes the snake sacrifice (''sarpasattra'') of Janamejaya, explaining its motivation, detailing why all snakes in existence were intended to be destroyed, and why in spite of this, there are still snakes in existence. This ''sarpasattra'' material was often considered an independent tale added to a version of the ''Mahabharata'' by "thematic attraction" (Minkowski 1991), and considered to have a particularly close connection to Vedic (Brahmana) literature. The Panchavimsha Brahmana (at 25.15.3) enumerates the officiant priests of a ''sarpasattra'' among whom the names Dhrtarashtra and Janamejaya, two main characters of the ''Mahabharata'''s ''sarpasattra'', as well as Takshaka, the name of a snake in the ''Mahabharata'', occur.

The state of the text has been described by some early 20th century Indologists as unstructured and chaotic. Hermann Oldenberg supposed that the original poem must once have carried an immense "tragic force", but dismissed the full text as a "horrible chaos." The judgement of other early 20th century Indologists was even less favourable. Moritz Winternitz (''Geschichte der indischen Literatur'' 1909) considered that "only unpoetical theologists and clumsy scribes" could have lumped the various parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole.

Historical references

The earliest known references to the ''Mahabharata'' and its core ''Bharata'' date back to the ''Ashtadhyayi'' (sutra 6.2.38) of Pāṇini (fl. 4th century BCE), and in the ''Ashvalayana Grhyasutra'' (3.4.4). This may suggest that the core 24,000 verses, known as the ''Bharata'', as well as an early version of the extended ''Mahabharata'', were composed by the 4th century BCE.

A report by the Greek writer Dio Chrysostom (ca. 40-ca. 120 CE) about Homer's poetry being sung even in India seems to imply that the ''Iliad'' had been translated into Sanskrit. However, scholars have, in general, taken this as evidence for the existence of a ''Mahabharata'' at this date, whose episodes Dio or his sources syncretistically identify with the story of the ''Iliad''.

Several stories within the Mahabharata took on separate identities of their own in Classical Sanskrit literature. For instance, Abhijñānashākuntala by the renowned Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa (ca. 400 CE), believed to have lived in the era of the Gupta dynasty, is based on a story that is the precursor to the Mahabharata. Urubhanga, a Sanskrit play written by Bhāsa who is believed to have lived before Kālidāsa, is based on the slaying of Duryodhana by the splitting of his thighs by Bhima.

The copper-plate inscription of the Maharaja Sharvanatha (533–534 CE) from Khoh (Satna District, Madhya Pradesh) describes the ''Mahabharata'' as a "collection of 100,000 verses" (''shatasahasri samhita'').

The 18 parvas

The division into 18 parvas is as follows:

Parva	title	sub-parvas	contents
1	Adi Parva ''(The Book of the Beginning)''	1–19	How the Mahabharata came to be narrated by Sauti to the assembled rishis at Naimisharanya. The recital of the Mahabharata at the ''sarpasattra'' of Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at . The history of the Bharata race is told in detail and the parva also traces history of the Bhrigu race. The birth and early life of the Kuru princes. (''adi'' means first)
2	Sabha Parva (The Book of the Assembly Hall)	20–28	Maya Danava erects the palace and court (''sabha''), at Indraprastha. Life at the court, Yudhishthira's Rajasuya Yajna, the game of dice, and the eventual exile of the Pandavas.
3	Vana Parva ''also Aranyaka-parva, Aranya-parva'' (The Book of the Forest)	29–44	The twelve years of exile in the forest (''aranya'').
4	Virata Parva (The Book of Virata)	45–48	The year in incognito spent at the court of Virata.
5	Udyoga Parva (The Book of the Effort)	49–59	Preparations for war and efforts to bring about peace between the Kurus and the Pandavas which eventually fail (''udyoga'' means effort or work).
6	Bhishma Parva (The Book of Bhishma)	60–64	The first part of the great battle, with Bhishma as commander for the Kauravas and his fall on the bed of arrows.
7	Drona Parva (The Book of Drona)	65–72	The battle continues, with Drona as commander. This is the major book of the war. Most of the great warriors on both sides are dead by the end of this book.
8	Karna Parva (The Book of Karna)	73	The battle again, with Karna as commander.
9	Shalya Parva (The Book of Shalya)	74–77	The last day of the battle, with Shalya as commander. Also told in detail is the pilgrimage of Balarama to the fords of the river Saraswati and the mace fight between Bhima and Duryodhana which ends the war, since Bhima kills Duryodhana by smashing him on the thighs with a mace.
10	Sauptika Parva (The Book of the Sleeping Warriors)	78–80
11	Stri Parva (The Book of the Women)	81–85
12	Shanti Parva (The Book of Peace)	86–88	The crowning of Yudhisthira as king of Hastinapura, and instructions from Bhishma for the newly anointed king on society, economics and politics. This is the longest book of the Mahabharata (''shanti'' means peace).
13	Anushasana Parva (The Book of the Instructions)	89–90	The final instructions (''anushasana'') from Bhishma.
14	Ashvamedhika Parva (The Book of the Horse Sacrifice)	91–92	The royal ceremony of the Ashvamedha (Horse sacrifice) conducted by Yudhisthira. The world conquest by Arjuna. The Anugita is told by Krishna to Arjuna.
15	Ashramavasika Parva (The Book of the Hermitage)	93–95	The eventual deaths of Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti in a forest fire when they are living in a hermitage in the Himalayas. Vidura predeceases them and Sanjaya on Dhritarashtra's bidding goes to live in the higher Himalayas.
16	Mausala Parva (The Book of the Clubs)	96
17	Mahaprasthanika Parva (The Book of the Great Journey)	97	The great journey of Yudhisthira and his brothers across the whole country and finally their ascent of the great Himalayas where each Pandava falls except for Yudhisthira.
18	Svargarohana Parva (The Book of the Ascent to Heaven)	98	Yudhisthira's final test and the return of the Pandavas to the spiritual world (''svarga'').
''khila''		99–100	Life of Krishna which is not covered in the 18 parvas of the Mahabharata.

Historical context

The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is unclear. Many historians estimate the date of the Kurukshetra war to Iron Age India of the 10th century BCE. The setting of the epic has a historical precedent in Iron Age (Vedic) India, where the Kuru kingdom was the center of political power during roughly 1200 to 800 BCE. A dynastic conflict of the period could have been the inspiration for the ''Jaya'', the foundation on which the Mahabharata corpus was built, with a climactic battle eventually coming to be viewed as an epochal event.

Puranic literature presents genealogical lists associated with the Mahabharata narrative. The evidence of the Puranas is of two kinds. Of the first kind, there is the direct statement that there were 1015 (or 1050) years between the birth of Parikshit (Arjuna's grandson) and the accession of Mahapadma Nanda, commonly dated to 382 BCE, which would yield an estimate of about 1400 BCE for the Bharata battle. However, this would imply improbably long reigns on average for the kings listed in the genealogies. Of the second kind are analyses of parallel genealogies in the Puranas between the times of Adhisimakrishna (Parikshit's great-grandson) and Mahapadma Nanda. Pargiter accordingly estimated 26 generations by averaging 10 different dynastic lists and, assuming 18 years for the average duration of a reign, arrived at an estimate of 850 BCE for Adhisimakrishna, and thus approximately 950 BCE for the Bharata battle.

B. B. Lal used the same approach with a more conservative assumption of the average reign to estimate a date of 836 BCE, and correlated this with archaeological evidence from Painted Grey Ware sites, the association being strong between PGW artifacts and places mentioned in the epic.

Attempts to date the events using methods of archaeoastronomy have produced, depending on which passages are chosen and how they are interpreted, estimates ranging from the late 4th to the mid 2nd millennium BCE. The late 4th millennium date has a precedent in the calculation of the Kaliyuga epoch, based on planetary conjunctions, by Aryabhata (6th century). His date of February 18 3102 BCE has become widespread in Indian tradition (for example, the Aihole inscription of Pulikeshi II, dated to Saka 556 = 634 CE, claims that 3735 years have elapsed since the Bharata battle.) Another traditional school of astronomers and historians, represented by Vriddha-Garga, Varahamihira (author of the ''Brhatsamhita'') and Kalhana (author of the ''Rajatarangini''), place the Bharata war 653 years after the Kaliyuga epoch, corresponding to 2449 BCE.

Synopsis

The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kaurava and the Pandava. Although the Kaurava is the senior branch of the family, Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava, is younger than Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava. Both Duryodhana and Yudhisthira claim to be first in line to inherit the throne.

The struggle culminates in the great battle of Kurukshetra, in which the Pandavas are ultimately victorious. The battle produces complex conflicts of kinship and friendship, instances of family loyalty and duty taking precedence over what is right, as well as the converse.

The ''Mahabharata'' itself ends with the death of Krishna, and the subsequent end of his dynasty and ascent of the Pandava brothers to heaven. It also marks the beginning of the Hindu age of Kali (Kali Yuga), the fourth and final age of mankind, in which great values and noble ideas have crumbled, and man is heading toward the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue.

Arshia Sattar states that the central theme of the Mahabharata, as well as the Ramayana, is respectively Krishna's and Rama's hidden divinity and its progressive revelation.

The older generations

King Janamejaya's ancestor Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura, has a short-lived marriage with the goddess Ganga and has a son, Devavrata (later to be called Bhishma, a great warrior), who becomes the heir apparent. Many years later, when King Shantanu goes hunting, he sees Satyavati, the daughter of the chief of fisherman, and asks her father for her hand. Her father refuses to consent to the marriage unless Shantanu promises to make any future son of Satyavati the king upon his death. To resolve his father's dilemma, Devavrata agrees to relinquish his right to the throne. As the fisherman is not sure about the prince's children honouring the promise, Devavrata also takes a vow of lifelong celibacy to guarantee his father's promise.

Shantanu has two sons by Satyavati, Chitrāngada and Vichitravirya. Upon Shantanu's death, Chitrangada becomes king. He lives a very short uneventful life and dies. Vichitravirya, the younger son, rules Hastinapura. Meanwhile, the King of Kāśī arranges a swayamvara for his three daughters, neglecting to invite the royal family of Hastinapur. In order to arrange the marriage of young Vichitravirya, Bhishma attends the swayamvara of the three princesses Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, uninvited, and proceeds to abduct them. Ambika and Ambalika consent to be married to Vichitravirya.

The oldest princess Amba, however, informs Bhishma that she wishes to marry king of Shalva whom Bhishma defeated at their swayamvara. Bhishma lets her leave to marry king of Shalva, but Shalva refuses to marry her, still smarting at his humiliation at the hands of Bhishma. Amba then returns to marry Bhishma but he refuses due to his vow of celibacy. Amba becomes enraged and becomes Bhishma's bitter enemy, holding him responsible for her plight. Later she is reborn to King Drupada as Shikhandi (or Shikhandini) and causes Bhishma's fall, with the help of Arjuna, in the battle of Kurukshetra.

The Pandava and Kaurava princes

When Vichitravirya dies young without any heirs, Satyavati asks her first son Vyasa to father children with the widows. The eldest, Ambika, shuts her eyes when she sees him, and so her son Dhritarashtra is born blind. Ambalika turns pale and bloodless upon seeing him, and thus her son Pandu is born pale and unhealthy (the term Pandu may also mean 'jaundiced'). Due to the physical challenges of the first two children, Satyavati asks Vyasa to try once again. However, Ambika and Ambalika send their maid instead, to Vyasa's room. Vyasa fathers a third son, Vidura, by the maid. He is born healthy and grows up to be one of the wisest characters in the ''Mahabharata''. He serves as Prime Minister (Mahamantri or Mahatma) to King Pandu and King Dhritarashtra.

When the princes grow up, Dhritarashtra is about to be crowned king by Bhishma when Vidura intervenes and uses his knowledge of politics to assert that a blind person cannot be king. This is because a blind man cannot control and protect his subjects. The throne is then given to Pandu because of Dhritarashtra's blindness. Pandu marries twice, to Kunti and Madri. Dhritarashtra marries Gandhari, a princess from Gandhara, who blindfolds herself so that she may feel the pain that her husband feels. Her brother Shakuni is enraged by this and vows to take revenge on the Kuru family. One day, when Pandu is relaxing in the forest, he hears the sound of a wild animal. He shoots an arrow in the direction of the sound. However the arrow hits the sage Kindama, who curses him that if he engages in a sexual act, he will die. Pandu then retires to the forest along with his two wives, and his brother Dhritarashtra rules thereafter, despite his blindness.

Pandu's older queen Kunti, however, had been given a boon by Sage Durvasa that she could invoke any god using a special mantra. Kunti uses this boon to ask Dharma the god of justice, Vayu the god of the wind, and Indra the lord of the heavens for sons. She gives birth to three sons, Yudhisthira, Bhima, and Arjuna, through these gods. Kunti shares her mantra with the younger queen Madri, who bears the twins Nakula and Sahadeva through the Ashwini twins. However, Pandu and Madri indulge in sex, and Pandu dies. Madri dies on his funeral pyre out of remorse. Kunti raises the five brothers, who are from then on usually referred to as the Pandava brothers.

Dhritarashtra has a hundred sons through Gandhari, all born after the birth of Yudhishtira. These are the Kaurava brothers, the eldest being Duryodhana, and the second Dushasana. Other Kaurava brothers were Vikarna and Sukarna. The rivalry and enmity between them and the Pandava brothers, from their youth and into manhood, leads to the Kurukshetra war.

(The House of Lac)

After the deaths of their mother (Madri) and father (Pandu), the Pandavas and their mother Kunti return to the palace of Hastinapur. Yudhisthira is made Crown Prince by Dhritarashtra, under considerable pressure from his kingdom. Dhritarashtra wanted his own son Duryodhana to become king and lets his ambition get in the way of preserving justice.

Shakuni, Duryodhana and Dusasana plot to get rid of the Pandavas. Shakuni calls the architect Purvanchan to build a palace out of flammable materials like lac and ghee. He then arranges for the Pandavas and the Queen Mother Kunti to stay there, with the intention of setting it alight. However, the Pandavas are warned by their wise uncle, Vidura, who sends them a miner to dig a tunnel. They are able to escape to safety and go into hiding. Back at Hastinapur, the Pandavas and Kunti are presumed dead.

Marriage to Draupadi

During the course of their hiding the Pandavas learn of a swayamvara which is taking place for the hand of the Pāñcāla princess Draupadī. The Pandavas enter the competition in disguise as Brahmins. The task is to string a mighty steel bow and shoot a target on the ceiling, which is the eye of a moving artificial fish, while looking at its reflection in oil below. Most of the princes fail, many being unable to lift the bow. Arjuna succeeds however. The Pandavas return home and inform their mother that Arjuna has won a competition and to look at what they have brought back. Without looking, Kunti asks them to share whatever it is Arjuna has won among themselves. Thus Draupadi ends up being the wife of all five brothers.

Indraprastha

After the wedding, the Pandava brothers are invited back to Hastinapura. The Kuru family elders and relatives negotiate and broker a split of the kingdom, with the Pandavas obtaining a new territory. Yudhishtira has a new capital built for this territory at Indraprastha. Neither the Pandava nor Kaurava sides are happy with the arrangement however.

Shortly after this, Arjuna elopes with and then marries Krishna's sister, Subhadra. Yudhishtira wishes to establish his position as king; he seeks Krishna's advice. Krishna advises him, and after due preparation and the elimination of some opposition, Yudhishthira carries out the ''rājasūya yagna'' ceremony; he is thus recognised as pre-eminent among kings.

The Pandavas have a new palace built for them, by Maya the Danava. They invite their Kaurava cousins to Indraprastha. Duryodhana walks round the palace, and mistakes a glossy floor for water, and will not step in. After being told of his error, he then sees a pond, and assumes it is not water and falls in. Draupadi laughs at him and ridicules him by saying that this is because of his blind father Dhritrashtra. He then decides to avenge his humiliation.

The dice game

Shakuni, Duryodhana's uncle, now arranges a dice game, playing against Yudhishtira with loaded dice. Yudhishtira loses all his wealth, then his kingdom. He then even gambles his brothers, himself, and finally his wife into servitude. The jubilant Kauravas insult the Pandavas in their helpless state and even try to disrobe Draupadi in front of the entire court, but her honour is saved by Krishna who miraculously creates lengths of cloth to replace the ones being removed.

Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, and the other elders are aghast at the situation, but Duryodhana is adamant that there is no place for two crown princes in Hastinapura. Against his wishes Dhritarashtra orders for another dice game. The Pandavas are required to go into exile for 12 years, and in the 13th year must remain hidden. If discovered by the Kauravas, they will be forced into exile for another 12 years.

Exile and return

The Pandavas spend thirteen years in exile; many adventures occur during this time. They also prepare alliances for a possible future conflict. They spend their final year in disguise in the court of Virata, and are discovered just after the end of the year.

At the end of their exile, they try to negotiate a return to Indraprastha. However, this fails, as Duryodhana objects that they were discovered while in hiding, and that no return of their kingdom was agreed. War becomes inevitable.

The battle at Kurukshetra

The two sides summon vast armies to their help, and line up at Kurukshetra for a war. The Kingdoms of Panchala, Dwaraka, Kasi, Kekaya, Magadha, Matsya, Chedi, Pandya, Telinga, and the Yadus of Mathura and some other clans like the Parama Kambojas were allied with the Pandavas. The allies of the Kauravas included the kings of Pragjyotisha, Anga, Kekaya, Sindhudesa (including Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis), Mahishmati, Avanti in Madhyadesa, Madra, Gandhara, Bahlikas, Kambojas and many others. Prior to war being declared, Balarama, had expressed his unhappiness at the developing conflict, and left to go on pilgrimage, thus he does not take part in the battle itself. Krishna takes part in a non-combatant role, as charioteer for Arjuna.

Before the battle, Arjuna, seeing himself facing his great grandfather Bhishma and his teacher Drona on the other side, has doubts about the battle and he fails to lift his Gāndeeva bow. Krishna wakes him up to his call of duty in the famous Bhagavad Gita section of the epic.

Though initially sticking to chivalrous notions of warfare, both sides soon adopt dishonourable tactics. At the end of the 18-day battle, only the Pandavas, Satyaki, Kripa, Ashwathama, Kritavarma, Yuyutsu and Krishna survive.

The end of the Pandavas

After "seeing" the carnage, Gandhari who had lost all her sons, curses Krishna to be a witness to a similar annihilation of his family, for though divine and capable of stopping the war, he had not done so. Krishna accepts the curse, which bears fruit 36 years later.

The Pandavas who had ruled their kingdom meanwhile, decide to renounce everything. Clad in skins and rags they retire to the Himalaya and climb towards heaven in their bodily form. A stray dog travels with them. One by one the brothers and Draupadi fall on their way. As each one stumbles, Yudhishitra gives the rest the reason for their fall (Draupadi was partial to Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were vain and proud of their looks, Bhima and Arjuna were proud of their strength and archery skills, respectively). Only the virtuous Yudhisthira, who had tried everything to prevent the carnage, and the dog remain. The dog reveals himself to be the god Yama (also known as Yama Dharmaraja), and then takes him to the underworld where he sees his siblings and wife. After explaining the nature of the test, Yama takes Yudhishthira back to heaven and explains that it was necessary to expose him to the underworld because (Rajyante narakam dhruvam) any ruler has to visit the underworld at least once. Yama then assures him that his siblings and wife would join him in heaven after they had been exposed to the underworld for measures of time according to their vices.

Arjuna's grandson Parikshit rules after them and dies bitten by a snake. His furious son, Janamejaya, decides to perform a snake sacrifice (''sarpasattra'') in order to destroy the snakes. It is at this sacrifice that the tale of his ancestors is narrated to him.

Versions, translations, and derivative works

Many regional versions of the work developed over time, mostly differing only in minor details, or with verses or subsidiary stories being added. These include some versions from outside the Indian subcontinent, such as the Kakawin Bharatayuddha from Java. The plays of the Tamil street theatre, terukkuttu, use themes from the Tamil language versions of Mahabharata, focusing on Draupadi.

Critical Edition

Between 1919 and 1966, scholars at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, compared the various manuscripts of the epic from India and abroad and produced the ''Critical Edition'' of the ''Mahabharata'', on 13,000 pages in 19 volumes, followed by the Harivamsha in another two volumes and six index volumes. This is the text that is usually used in current ''Mahabharata'' studies for reference. This work is sometimes called the 'Pune' or 'Poona' edition of the Mahabharata.

Modern interpretations

The Tamil writer S. Ramakrishnan has written a critically acclaimed book based on the Mahabharata called "Uba Paandavam". It discusses the story in a non-linear manner from a traveller's point of view.

The Kannada novelist S.L. Bhyrappa wrote a novel in Kannada (now translated into most Indian languages and English) titled ''Parva'', giving a new interpretation to the story of Mahabharata. He tried to understand the social and ethical practices in these regions and correlate them with the story of Mahabharata.

Malayalam writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair's novel Randamoozham (English: ''Second Turn'') tells the Mahabharata from Bhima's point of view. Mrityunjay (English: ''Triumph Over Death'') written by Shivaji Sawant is a novel with Karna as the central character of Mahabharata.

In Indian cinema, several film versions of the epic exist, dating back to 1920. The internationally acclaimed parallel Bengali film director Satyajit Ray also intended to direct a theatrical adaptation of the epic, but the project was never realized.

In the late 1980s, the ''Mahabharat'' TV series, directed by Ravi Chopra, was televised and shown on India's national television (Doordarshan). In the Western world, a well-known presentation of the epic is Peter Brook's nine-hour play, which premiered in Avignon in 1985, and its five-hour movie version ''The Mahabharata'' (1989).

Among literary reinterpretations of the Mahabharata is Shashi Tharoor's major work entitled ''The Great Indian Novel'', an involved literary, philosophical, and political novel which superimposes the major moments of post-independence India in the 20th century onto the driving events of the Mahabharata epic.

Mahabharata was also reinterpreted by Shyam Benegal in Kalyug. Kalyug is a modern-day replaying of the Mahabharata.

Western interpretations of the Mahabharata include William Buck's ''Mahabharata'' and Elizabeth Seeger's ''Five Sons of King Pandu''.

Persian Translation

It were translated into Persian by Akbar order , by Faizi and `Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni (1761–1763) and named Razmnameh .

English translations

The first complete English translation was the Victorian prose version by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, published between 1883 and 1896 (Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers) and by M. N. Dutt (Motilal Banarsidass Publishers). Most critics consider the translation by Ganguli to be faithful to the original text. The complete text of Ganguli's translation is in the public domain and is available online.

Another English prose translation of the full epic, based on the ''Critical Edition'', is also in progress, published by University Of Chicago Press, initiated by Chicago Indologist J. A. B. van Buitenen (books 1–5) and, following a 20-year hiatus caused by the death of van Buitenen, is being continued by D. Gitomer of DePaul University (book 6), J. L. Fitzgerald of Brown University (books 11–13) and Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago (books 14–18).

A poetic "transcreation" (author's own description) of the full epic into English, done by the poet P. Lal is complete, and in 2005 began being published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta. The P. Lal translation is a non-rhyming verse-by-verse rendering, and is the only edition in any language to include all slokas in all recensions of the work (not just those in the ''Critical Edition''). The completion of the publishing project is scheduled for 2010. Sixteen of the eighteen volumes are now available.

A project to translate the full epic into English prose, translated by various hands, began to appear in 2005 from the Clay Sanskrit Library, published by New York University Press. The translation is based not on the ''Critical Edition'' but on the version known to the commentator Nīlakaṇṭha. Currently available are 15 volumes of the projected 32-volume edition.

Indian economist Bibek Debroy has also begun an unabridged English translation in ten volumes. Volume 1: Adi Parva was published in March 2010.

Abridged versions

Many condensed versions, abridgements and novelistic prose retellings of the complete epic have been published in English, including work by William Buck, R.K. Narayan, C. Rajagopalachari, Krishna Dharma, Romesh C. Dutt, Bharadvaja Sarma, and John D. Smith.

A Kawi version is found on the Indonesian island of Bali and was translated by Dr. I. Gusti Putu Phalgunadi. Of the eighteen parvas, only eight Kawi manuscripts remain.

Derivative works

Bhasa, the 2nd or 3rd century AD Sanskrit playwright, wrote two plays on episodes in the Marabharata, ''Urubhanga'' (Broken Thigh), about the fight between Duryodhana and Bhima, while ''Madhyamavyayoga'' (The Middle One) set around Bhima and his son, Ghatotkacha. The first important play of 20th century was ''Andha Yug'' (The Blind Epoch), by Dharamvir Bharati, which came in 1955, found in ''Mahabharat'', both an ideal source and expression of modern predicaments and discontent. Starting with Ebrahim Alkazi it was staged by numerous directors. V. S. Khandekar's Marathi novel, ''Yayati'' (1960) and Girish Karnad's debut play ''Yayati'' (1961) are based on the story of King Yayati found in the Mahabharat. Bengali writer and playwright, Buddhadeva Bose wrote three plays set in Mahabharat, ''Anamni Angana'', ''Pratham Partha'' and ''Kalsandhya''.

Jain version

Jain version of Mahabharata can be found in the various Jain texts like ''Harivamsapurana'' (the story of Harivamsa) ''Trisastisalakapurusa Caritra'' (Hagiography of 63 Illustrious persons), ''Pandavacaritra'' (lives of Pandavas) and ''Pandavapurana'' (stories of Pandavas). From the earlier canonical literature, ''Antakrddaaśāh'' (8th cannon) and ''Vrisnidasa'' (''upangagama'' or secondary canon) contain the stories of Neminatha (22nd Tirthankara), Krishna and Balarama. Prof. Padmanabh Jaini notes that, unlike in the Hindu Puranas, the names Baladeva and Vasudeva are not restricted to Balarama and Krishna in Jain puranas. Instead they serve as names of two distinct class of mighty brothers, who appear nine times in each half of time cycles of the Jain cosmology and rule the half the earth as half-chakravartins. Jaini traces the origin of this list of brothers to the Jinacharitra by Bhadrabahu swami (3–4 century BCE). According to Jain cosmology Balarama, Krishna and Jarasandha are the ninth and the last set of Baladeva, Vasudeva, and Partivasudeva. The main battle is not the Mahabharata, but the fight between Krishna and Jarasandha who is killed by Krishna. Ultimately, the Pandavas and Balarama take renunciation as Jain monks and are reborn in heavens, while on the other hand Krishna and Jarasandha are reborn in hell. In keeping with the law of karma, Krishna is reborn in hell for his exploits (sexual and violent) while Jarasandha for his evil ways. Prof. Jaini admits a possibility that perhaps because of his popularity, the Jain authors were keen to rehabilitate Krishna. The Jain texts predict that after his karmic term in hell is over sometime during the next half time-cycle, Krishna will be reborn as a Jain Tirthankara and attain liberation. Krishna and Balrama are shown as contemporaries and cousins of 22nd Tirthankara, Neminatha. According to this story, Krishna arranged young Neminath’s marriage with Rajamati, the daughter of Ugrasena, but Neminatha, empathizing with the animals which were to be slaughtered for the marriage feast, left the procession suddenly and renounced the world.

Kuru family tree

{{familytree | | | | |!|KAR | |YUD | |BHI | |ARJ |y|SUB | |NAK| |SAH| |KAR = Karna^c|boxstyle_KAR=border: 2px solid blue; |YUD=Yudhishthira^d|boxstyle_YUD=background:#8D8; border: 2px solid blue;|BHI=Bhima^d|boxstyle_BHI=background:#8D8; border: 2px solid blue;|ARJ=Arjuna^d|boxstyle_ARJ=background:#8D8;border: 2px solid blue;|SUB=Subhadrā |boxstyle_SUB=border: 2px solid red;|NAK=Nakula^d|boxstyle_NAK=background:#8D8; border: 2px solid blue;|SAH=Sahadeva^d|boxstyle_SAH=background:#8D8; border: 2px solid blue;}}

Key to Symbols

Male: ''blue border''

Female: ''red border''

Pandavas: ''green box''

Kauravas: ''yellow box''

Notes

a: Santanu was a king of the Kuru dynasty or kingdom, and was some generations removed from any ancestor called Kuru. His marriage to Ganga preceded his marriage to Satyavati.

b: Pandu and Dhritarashtra were fathered by Vyasa after Vichitravirya's death. Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura were the sons of Vyasa with Ambika, Ambalika and a maid servant respectively.

c: Karna was born to Kunti through her invocation of Surya, before her marriage to Pandu.

d: Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were acknowledged sons of Pandu but were begotten by Kunti's invocation of various deities. They all married Draupadi (not shown in tree).

e: Duryodhana and his siblings were born at the same time, and they were of the same generation as their Pandava cousins.

The birth order of siblings is correctly shown in the family tree (from left to right), except for Vyasa and Bhishma whose birth order is not described, and Vichitravirya who was born after them. The fact that Ambika and Ambalika are sisters is not shown in the family tree. The birth of Duryodhana took place after the birth of Karna, Yudhishtira and Bhima, but before the birth of the remaining Pandava brothers.

Some siblings of the characters shown here have been left out for clarity; these include Chitrāngada, the eldest brother of Vichitravirya. Vidura, half-brother to Dhritarashtra and Pandu.

Cultural influence

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince and elaborates on different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and a practical, self-contained guide to life. In modern times, Swami Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and many others used the text to help inspire the Indian independence movement.

See also

Kakawin Bhāratayuddha

Mahabharat (TV series)

Mahabharat (1965 film)

Notes

References

Badrinath, Chaturvedi. ''The Mahabharata : An Inquiry in the Human Condition'', New Delhi, Orient Longman (2006)

Bandyopadhyaya, Jayantanuja (2008). ''Class and Religion in Ancient India''. Anthem Press.

Bhasin, R.V. ''"Mahabharata"'' published by National Publications, India, 2007.

J. Brockington. ''The Sanskrit Epics'', Leiden (1998).

Buitenen, Johannes Adrianus Bernardus (1978). ''The Mahābhārata''. 3 volumes (translation / publication incomplete due to his death). University of Chicago Press.

Chaitanya, Krishna (K.K. Nair). ''The Mahabharata, A Literary Study'', Clarion Books, New Delhi 1985.

Gupta, S.P. and Ramachandran, K.S. (ed.). ''Mahabharata: myth and reality''. Agam Prakashan, New Delhi 1976.

Hiltebeitel, Alf. ''The Ritual of Battle, Krishna in the Mahabharata'', SUNY Press, New York 1990.

Hopkins, E. W. ''The Great Epic of India'', New York (1901).

Jyotirmayananda, Swami. ''Mysticism of the Mahabharata'', Yoga Research Foundation, Miami 1993.

Katz, Ruth Cecily ''Arjuna in the Mahabharata'', University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 1989.

Lerner, Paule. ''Astrological Key in Mahabharata'', David White (trans.) Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi 1988.

Mallory, J. P (2005). ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans''. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27616-1

Mehta, M. ''The problem of the double introduction to the Mahabharata'', JAOS 93 (1973), 547–550.

Minkowski, C.Z. ''Janamehayas ''Sattra'' and Ritual Structure'', JAOS 109 (1989), 410–420.

Minkowski, C.Z. 'Snakes, ''Sattras'' and the Mahabharata', in: ''Essays on the Mahabharata'', ed. A. Sharma, Leiden (1991), 384–400.

Oldenberg, Hermann. ''Zur Geschichte der Altindischen Prosa'', Berlin (1917)

Oberlies, Th. 'The Counsels of the Seer Narada: Ritual on and under the Surface of the Mahabharata', in: ''New methods in the research of epic'' (ed. H. L. C. Tristram), Freiburg (1998).

Oldenberg, H. ''Das Mahabharata'', Göttingen (1922).

Pāṇini. ''Ashtādhyāyī''. Book 4. Translated by Chandra Vasu. Benares, 1896.

Pargiter, F.E. ''Ancient Indian Historical Tradition'', London 1922. Repr. Motilal Banarsidass 1997.

Sukthankar, Vishnu S. and Shrimant Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi (1933). ''The Mahabharata: for the first time critically edited''. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

Sullivan, Bruce M. ''Seer of the Fifth Veda, Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa in the Mahabharata'', Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi 1999.

Sutton, Nicholas. ''Religious Doctrines in the Mahabharata'', Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi 2000.

Utgikar, N. B. ''The mention of the Mahabharata in the Ashvalayana Grhya Sutra'', Proceedings and Transactions of the All-India Oriental Conference, Poona (1919), vol. 2, Poona (1922), 46–61.

Vaidya, R.V. ''A Study of Mahabharat; A Research'', Poona, A.V.G. Prakashan, 1967

Witzel, Michael, ''Epics, Khilas and Puranas: Continuities and Ruptures'', Proceedings of the Third Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Puranas, ed. P. Koskiallio, Zagreb (2005), 21–80.

External links

;Original text online

etext (metrical), entered by Muneo Tokunaga

GRETIL etext (Muneo Tokunaga)

Mahābhārata online

;Textual resources

Reading Suggestions, J. L. Fitzgerald, Das Professor of Sanskrit, Department of Classics, Brown University

Mahabharata Resources Page

;Kisari Mohan Ganguli translation

at sacred-texts.com

at bharatadesam.com

;Articles on the Mahabharata

Mahabharata and Sindhu- Sarasvathi tradition, a paper by Subhash kak (pdf)

;Visuals

Map of India during Ramayana and Mahabharata

Category:Kurukshetra Category:Epic poems in Sanskrit Category:Ancient India Category:Sanskrit texts Category:Sanskrit words and phrases

ar:مهابهاراتا an:Mahābhārata bn:মহাভারত zh-min-nan:Mahabharata map-bms:Mahabharata be:Махабхарата be-x-old:Магабгарата bs:Mahabharata br:Mahābhārata bg:Махабхарата ca:Mahabharata cs:Mahábhárata cy:Mahabharata da:Mahabharata de:Mahabharata et:Mahābhārata el:Μαχαμπχαράτα es:Mahábharata eo:Mahabharato eu:Mahābhārata fa:مهاباراتا hif:Mahabharata fr:Mahâbhârata gl:Mahabharata gu:મહાભારત ko:마하바라타 hy:Մահաբհարաթա hi:महाभारत hr:Mahabharata io:Mahabharata bpy:মহাভারত id:Mahabharata is:Mahabarata it:Mahābhārata he:מהאבהארטה jv:Mahabharata kn:ಮಹಾಭಾರತ ka:მაჰაბჰარატა ks:महाभारत kk:“Махабхарата” sw:Mahabharata la:Mahabharatum lv:Mahābhārata lt:Mahabharata hu:Mahábhárata mk:Махабхарата ml:മഹാഭാരതം mr:महाभारत arz:ماهابهاراتا ms:Mahabharata mn:Махабхарата my:မဟာဘာရတ nl:Mahabharata ne:महाभारत new:महाभारत गा बि स ja:マハーバーラタ no:Mahabharata nn:Mahabharata oc:Mahabharata pnb:مہا بھارت km:រឿងមហាភារតយុទ្ធ pl:Mahabharata pt:Mahabharata kaa:Maxabxarata ro:Mahābhārata ru:Махабхарата sa:महाभारतम् simple:Mahabharata sk:Mahábhárata sl:Mahabharata sr:Махабхарата sh:Mahabharata su:Mahabarata fi:Mahabharata sv:Mahabharata tl:Mahabharata ta:மகாபாரதம் te:మహా భారతము th:มหาภารตะ tr:Mahabharata uk:Махабхарата ur:مہا بھارت vi:Mahabharata war:Mahabharata bat-smg:Mahabharata zh:摩诃婆罗多

Peter Brooks (born 1938) is Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale University and from 2008-2014 Mellon Visiting Professor in the department of Comparative Literature and the Center for Human Values at Princeton University. He is formerly Professor in the Department of English and School of Law at the University of Virginia. Among his many accomplishments is the founding of the Whitney's Humanities Center at Yale University. Brooks is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work cuts across French and English literature, law, and psychoanalysis.

Education

Brooks obtained both his B.A. (1959) and Ph.D. (1965) from Harvard. He also studied at University College, London (UCL) as a Marshall Scholar and at the University of Paris.

Books

''The Novel of Worldliness: Crébillon, Marivaux, Laclos, Stendhal'' (1969)

''The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess'' (1976) ISBN 0300065531

''Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative'' (1984) ISBN 0674748921

''Body Work: Objects of Desire in Modern Narrative'' (1993) ISBN 0674077253

''Psychoanalysis and Storytelling'' (1994) ISBN 0631190082

''Law's Stories: Narrative and Rhetoric in the Law'' (co-editor with Paul Gewirtz, 1996) ISBN 0300074905

''Troubling Confessions: Speaking Guilt in Law and Literature'' (2000) ISBN 0-226-07585-0

''Whose Freud? The Place of Psychoanalysis in Contemporary Culture'' (co-editor with Alex Woloch) (2000) ISBN 0-300-08116-2

''Realist Vision'' (2005) ISBN 0300106807

''Henry James Goes to Paris '' (2007) ISBN 0691129541

Papers

External links

Faculty bio at Yale Comp Lit department

Category:1938 births Category:American educators Category:Living people Category:Yale University faculty Category:University of Paris alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Princeton University faculty

eo:Peter Brooks it:Peter Brooks pt:Peter Brooks

''The Steve Harvey Show'' (also known as ''Steve Harvey'') is an American sitcom that aired for six seasons from August 25, 1996 to February 17, 2002 on The WB Television Network. It was created by Winifred Hervey and directed by Stan Lathan.

Synopsis

Steve Hightower (Steve Harvey) is a has-been 1970s funk legend who is now a music teacher/Vice-principal at Booker T. Washington High in Chicago's West Side. Budget cutbacks meant Steve also had to teach drama and art, much to his surprise. Cedric Robinson (Cedric the Entertainer) is a coach at the high school, and Steve's long-time best friend. The principal of Booker T. Washington High is Steve's former classmate, Regina Grier (Wendy Raquel Robinson), who Steve affectionately calls "Piggy", due to the fact that she was overweight as an adolescent.

Steve seemingly meets his match in a pair of his students: Romeo Santana (Merlin Santana), a stylish, popular, self-absorbed ladies' man, and the equally vacuous Stanley Kuznocki, nicknamed Bullethead (William Lee Scott).

In 1997, the show introduced a new character, a secretary named Lovita Jenkins (Terri J. Vaughn), a woman who is fundamentally good in nature, but nonetheless, considerably unrefined in terms of disposition. Cedric and Lovita begin dating, and eventually marry and produce a child. The show also featured a succession of young actresses who served as female foils to Romeo and Bullethead; the longest-lasting of these was Lori Beth Denberg as the overachieving, socially inept Lydia Gutman. Rapper The Lady of Rage also had a recurring role as Coretta Cox, a physically massive, brutish teenaged girl in romantic pursuit of Romeo.

Steve was part of a fictional singing group called "Steve Hightower and the High Tops," who would temporarily reunite to perform on occasion (the spelling of "High Tops" appears on a promotional poster that hangs on Steve's wall). The members consisted of Steve, T-Bone (played by T.K. Carter, later by Don 'D.C.' Curry), Pretty Tony (played by Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers), and Clyde (played by Jonathan Slocumb). Two of their signature songs (performed several times on the show) were "When the Funk Hits the Fan," and "Break Me Off a Piece of That Funk." Though Cedric was not an original member of the group, he usually sang with them on several events.

A few other recurring characters throughout the series included Cedric's grandmother named "Grandma Puddin'" (played by Cedric the Entertainer) and Regina's boyfriend, Warrington Steele (played by Dorien Wilson). Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell appeared in several episodes as "Junior" and "Vincent." Wayne Wilderson portrayed Byron, a "bougie" type character who was a TV producer and a member of the Onyx Club (a professional men's group that Steve and Cedric tried to join). Dwayne Adway played Jordan Maddox, a professional basketball player who was briefly married to Regina before dying during their honeymoon. Ernest Lee Thomas made a couple of appearances as the Reverend who eulogized Maddox, and who married Cedric and Lovita.

Running gags

There were a few recurrent gags throughout the series. For instance, Lovita had several relatives named after products or items (her brother's name was Duracell; she had cousins named "Kinko", "Bruschetta," "Clinique," and "Camay").

Steve also made several references to his well known hot spot "The Nasty Kitty" and his favorite working girl, Bubblicious, even though the strip club is never seen. Steve's topical humor of popular culture was also another recurring gag. One example of these jokes: "When I see that woman, I'm like Shaq doing Shakespeare- I just don't know how to act!". Another recurring gag on the show was despite being a one-time famous musician in the universe of the show, Steve was always mistaken for being other famous musicians. For example, in an episode guest starring Jerry Springer, he refers to him as "That Cop from the Village People." Another episode featured singer Teena Marie, who when Steve went to introduce himself to see if she'd remember him, answers "Oh Yes! Lionel! How are you? Give my best to the rest of The Commodores." (This was in obvious reference to singer Lionel Richie).

Though Regina blossomed into a beautiful, stylish lady, she sometimes displayed her insecurities, and was highly competitive (always displayed childlike exuberance whenever she won a trophy by yelling her signature catch phrase "Bam! In your face!", and once cheated Steve in a game of Scrabble because he played it better than she). In addition, the romantic tension between Steve and Regina eventually blossomed into a relationship.

A very well known gag was Cedric's story about being from Willacoochee, Georgia, where he was raised in a one bedroom shack. The story was never finished, the scene would change or someone would interrupt him. Cedric's love for decking out his Hyundai, which was never seen in the show, was another running gag, as well as offering to take Lovita out to dinner whenever he had a two-for-one coupon at the Sizzler restaurant.

Occasional gags referenced Bullethead's trailer park lifestyle, and Romeo's numerous names (he has used the names Romeo Miguel Jesus Pele Rojas Alejandro Santana). In one episode, he wrote all of his names on paper but never prepared his assignment, resulting in an "F." Lydia almost always displayed an obsession for her fellow classmate/alleged lover, Arthur Rabinowitz (whom Steve referred to as "that polite Jewish boy that does his taxes"), and for her favorite entertainer, Barbra Streisand; however, she had total disdain for classmates "Heather the cheerleader" and "Jennifer the cheerleader". One other gag was that teachers would refer to a student (amongst themselves) due to a condition or appearance ("Helmet Boy" for wearing a special helmet in gym class; "Au Natural Girl" for having a strong body odor, and "Firestarter" for one kid who kept setting items on fire).

Cast

Main cast

Steve Harvey – Steven "Steve" Hightower

Cedric the Entertainer – Cedric Jackie Robinson

Merlin Santana – Romeo Santana

William Lee Scott – Stanley "Bullethead" Kuznocki

Wendy Raquel Robinson – Principal Regina Grier-Maddox

Terri J. Vaughn – Lovita Alizé Jenkins-Robinson (1997-2002)

Tracy Vilar – Sophia Ortiz (1996-1997)

Netfa Perry – Sara (1996-1997)

Ariyan A. Johnson – Aisha (1997-1998)

Lori Beth Denberg – Lydia Liza Guttman (1998-2002)

Recurring cast

Kel Mitchell – Vincent (1996-1999)

Kenan Thompson – Junior (1996-1999)

T. K. Carter – T-Bone (1996-1999)

Ronald Isley – Pretty Tony (1996-2001)

Jonathan Slocumb – Clyde (1996-2001)

The Lady of Rage – Coretta "The Ox" Cox (1997-2000; credited during season 4 episodes as "Robin Yvette")

Wayne Wilderson – Byron (1998-2001)

Dorien Wilson – Warrington Steele (1998-1999)

Samm Levine – Arthur Rabinowitz (2001)

Don "D.C." Curry – T-Bone (1999-2001)

Dwayne Adway – Jordan Maddox (2000)

Special guest appearances

Teena Marie

Jerry Springer

Bow Wow

Jermaine Dupri

Teddy Riley

Snoop Dogg

Sean Combs

Kim Fields

Isabel Sanford

Judge Greg Mathis

Antonio Fargas

Busta Rhymes

Brian McKnight

Nikki Cox

Boris Kodjoe

Gabrielle Union

Bumper Robinson

Seasonal ratings in the United States

! Season	! Network	! Season premiere	! Season finale	! Rank	! Viewers(in millions)
! 1		August 25, 1996	May 18, 1997
! 2	September 10, 1997	May 13, 1998
! 3	September 18, 1998	May 20, 1999
! 4	September 24, 1999	May 19, 2000
! 5	October 8, 2000	May 20, 2001
! 6	October 14, 2001	February 17 , 2002

Series end

In 2001, Harvey decided to pursue other projects. He wished to end the show after the fifth season, but at the insistence of the WB network, reluctantly filmed a 13-episode sixth season.

The series ended with Regina mulling over a job offer to be a principal at a private school in California. Steve, who doesn't want Regina to go, acts supportive despite his feelings. Regina ends up taking the job and with encouragement from Lydia, Bullethead, and Romeo, Steve decides to go after her to reveal his true feelings. Meanwhile, Cedric and Lovita win the lottery and Lovita goes into labor (Terri J. Vaughn's real-life pregnancy was written into the show that season).

Death of Merlin Santana

On November 9, 2002, nine months after the series ended, Merlin Santana was shot and killed while sitting in his car in South Los Angeles, California. He was 26 years old. The reason for his death is that one of the killers' girlfriend falsely stated that Santana tried to rape her.

Syndication

The series was first distributed to syndication to WB and UPN affiliates in the United States by Sony Pictures Television in September 2002, and remained airing in broadcast syndication in some U.S. markets on various local stations (such as WCIU and MeTV in Chicago) as late as 2008.

The series aired on BET until March 2009, and currently TBS in the United States, (ending its run on September 24, 2011) UK Channel Trouble. It was broadcast on Ion Television until March 16, 2009. TBS missed most of the first inning of Game 6 of the 2008 American League Championship Series, with viewers getting a rerun of ''The Steve Harvey Show'' instead. TBS picked up the game just prior to the last out in the bottom of the first, with announcer Chip Caray apologizing to viewers for "technical difficulties." TBS acknowledged there was a problem with one of their routers used in the broadcast transmission of the relay of the telecast from Atlanta.

DVD release

In 2003, Sony Pictures released ''The Best of the Steve Harvey Show, Vol. 1'', on Region 1 DVD. The disc features five episodes of the series.

Awards and nominations

Nominated rowspan=4Nominated rowspan=24NominatedNominatedNominatedNominatedWon

style="background-color: #BCBCBC"	Year	Award	Result	Category	Recipient
rowspan=2	1996	NCLR Bravo Awards	|	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Comedy Series	Tracy Vilar
Nominated	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Comedy Series
rowspan=3	1998	ALMA Award ||	Nominated	Outstanding Comedy Series	-
Nominated	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Nominated	Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
1999	|	Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series	Merlin Santana
rowspan=2	1998	NAACP Image Awards ||	Nominated	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	Steve Harvey
Nominated	Outstanding Comedy Series
rowspan=3	1999	|	Outstanding Comedy Series	-
Won	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
rowspan=5	2000	|	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Terri J. Vaughn
Nominated	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
rowspan=7	2001	|	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	William Lee Scott
Nominated	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Nominated	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
rowspan=6	2002	|	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Merlin Santana
Nominated	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Comedy Series
Won	Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
2003	|	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Terri J. Vaughn

References

External links

Category:1996 American television series debuts Category:2002 American television series endings Category:1990s American television series Category:2000s American television series Category:American television sitcoms Category:Black sitcoms Category:English-language television series Category:Fictional versions of real people Category:High school television series Category:Television series by NBC Universal Television Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television Category:Television shows set in Chicago, Illinois Category:WB network shows

fr:The Steve Harvey Show