The Mahābhārata, traditionally ascribed to Vyāsa, is a colossal Sanskrit epic composed and redacted over centuries (roughly the 1st millennium BCE into the early centuries CE). At about 100,000 verses it narrates the dynastic feud between the Pandavas and Kauravas and the cataclysmic Kurukṣetra war. Its vast canvas—myth, genealogy, law, philosophy and tale—encloses the Bhagavad Gītā, a seminal dialogue on duty and liberation. Central themes are dharma (ethical duty), karma, kingship and statecraft, fate versus choice, and the moral ambiguity of human life. Today the Mahābhārata remains a living treasury of ethical reflection, political wisdom and artistic inspiration, shaping literature, law, and public imagination across South Asia and beyond.