Editing Mahabharata (section)

=== Accretion and redaction ===
Research on the ''Mahābhārata'' has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating layers within the text. Some elements of the present ''Mahabharata'' can be traced back to Vedic times.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FYPOVdzZ2UIC&dq=a+history+of+indian+literature+mahabharata+date&pg=PA452 ''A History of Indian Literature''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406115439/https://books.google.com/books?id=FYPOVdzZ2UIC&dq=a+history+of+indian+literature+mahabharata+date&pg=PA452 |date=6 April 2023 }}, Volume 1 by Maurice Winternitz</ref> The background to the ''Mahābhārata'' suggests the origin of the epic occurs "after the very early [[Vedic period]]" and before "[[Maurya Empire|the first Indian 'empire']] was to rise in the third century B.C." That this is "a date not too far removed from the 8th or 9th century B.C."<ref name="BrockingtonA" /><ref name=vanB73>Buitenen (1973) pp. xxiv–xxv</ref> is likely. The ''Mahabharata'' started as an orally-transmitted tale of the charioteer [[bard]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://scroll.in/article/806662/the-mahabharata-how-an-oral-narrative-of-the-bards-became-the-didactic-text-of-the-brahmins|title=The Mahabharata: How an oral narrative of the bards became a text of the Brahmins|first=Ruchika|last=Sharma|website=Scroll.in|date=16 January 2017|access-date=16 January 2017|archive-date=17 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117134753/http://scroll.in/article/806662/the-mahabharata-how-an-oral-narrative-of-the-bards-became-the-didactic-text-of-the-brahmins|url-status=live}}</ref> 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,"<ref name="vanB73" /> 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 include a reference in [[Pāṇini|Panini]]'s 4th century BCE grammar [[Aṣṭādhyāyī|''Ashtadhyayi'']] 4:2:56.<ref name="BrockingtonA" /><ref name="vanB73" /> Vishnu Sukthankar, editor of the first great critical edition of the ''Mahābhārata'', commented: "It is useless to think of reconstructing a fluid text in an original shape, based on 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'' based on the manuscript material available."<ref>Sukthankar (1933) "Prolegomena" p. lxxxvi. Emphasis is original.</ref> That manuscript evidence is somewhat late, given its material composition and the climate of India, but it is very extensive.

The ''Mahābhārata'' itself (1.1.61) distinguishes a core portion of 24,000 verses: the ''Bhārata'' proper, as opposed to additional secondary material, while the ''[[Grhya Sutras|Ashvalayana Grihyasutra]]'' (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, the ''Bharata'' with 24,000 verses as recited by [[Vaisampayana]], and finally the ''Mahābhārata'' as recited by [[Ugrasrava Sauti|Ugrashrava Sauti]] with over 100,000 verses.<ref>Gupta & Ramachandran (1976), citing ''Mahabharata'', Critical Edition, I, 56, 33</ref><ref>SP Gupta and KS Ramachandran (1976), p.3-4, citing Vaidya (1967), p.11</ref> 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 the ''[[Adi Parva]]'' (1.1.81).<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C&pg=PA21|title= The Sanskrit epics, Part 2|volume= 12|first= J. L.|last= Brockington|page= 21|publisher= BRILL|year= 1998|isbn= 978-90-04-10260-6|access-date= 30 May 2020|archive-date= 7 September 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230907124733/https://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C&pg=PA21|url-status= live}}</ref> The [[redaction]] of this large body of text was carried out after formal principles, emphasizing the numbers 18<ref>18 books, 18 chapters of the ''Bhagavadgita'' and the Narayaniya each, corresponding to the 18 days of the battle and the 18 armies (Mbh. 5.152.23)</ref> and 12. The addition of the latest parts may be dated by the absence of the ''[[Anushasana Parva]]'' and the ''[[Virata Parva]]'' from the "[[The Spitzer manuscript|Spitzer manuscript]]".<ref>The Spitzer Manuscript (Beitrage zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens), Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2004. It is one of the oldest Sanskrit manuscripts found on the [[Silk Road]] and part of the estate of Dr. Moritz Spitzer.</ref> The oldest surviving [[Sanskrit]] text dates to the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan Period]] (200 CE).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schlingloff|first=Dieter|year=1969|title=The Oldest Extant Parvan-List of the Mahābhārata|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=89|issue=2|pages=334–338|doi=10.2307/596517|jstor=596517}}</ref>

According to what one figure 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 ''Mahābhārata'', and identify Vyasa as the work's author. The redactors of these additions were probably [[Pañcaratra|Pancharatrin]] scholars who according to Oberlies (1998) likely retained control over the text until its final redaction. Mention of the [[Huna (people)|Huna]] in the ''[[Bhishma Parva]]'' however appears to imply that this Parva may have been edited around the 4th century.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-11-21|title=Vyasa, can you hear us now?|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/vyasa-can-you-hear-us-now/|access-date=2020-06-07|website=The Indian Express|language=en|archive-date=7 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607164708/https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/vyasa-can-you-hear-us-now/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Snakesacrifice.jpg|thumb|The snake sacrifice of Janamejaya]]
The ''Adi Parva'' includes the snake sacrifice (''sarpasattra'') of [[Janamejaya II|Janamejaya]], explaining its motivation, detailing why all snakes in existence were intended to be destroyed, and why despite this, there are still snakes in existence. This ''sarpasattra'' material was often considered an independent tale added to a version of the ''Mahābhārata'' by "thematic attraction" (Minkowski 1991), and considered to have a particularly close connection to [[Vedic Sanskrit|Vedic]] ([[Brahmana]]) literature. The ''[[Panchavimsha Brahmana]]'' (at 25.15.3) enumerates the officiant priests of a ''sarpasattra'' among whom the names [[Dhritarashtra]] and Janamejaya, two main figures of the ''Mahābhārata'''s ''sarpasattra'', as well as [[Takshaka]], a snake in the ''Mahābhārata'', occur.<ref>J.A.B. van Buitenen, ''Mahābhārata, Volume 1'', p.445, citing W. Caland, ''The Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa'', p.640-2</ref>

The ''[[Suparṇākhyāna|Suparnakhyana]]'', a late Vedic period poem considered to be among the "earliest traces of epic poetry in India," is an older, shorter precursor to the expanded legend of [[Garuda]] that is included in the ''Astika Parva'', within the ''Adi Parva'' of the ''Mahābhārata''.<ref name="Winternitz1996">{{cite book|author=Moriz Winternitz|title=A History of Indian Literature, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRfuJFRV_O8C&pg=PA292|year=1996|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0264-3|pages=291–292|access-date=22 November 2018|archive-date=6 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706210944/https://books.google.com/books?id=JRfuJFRV_O8C&pg=PA292|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Vogel1995">{{cite book|author=Jean Philippe Vogel|title=Indian Serpent-lore: Or, The Nāgas in Hindu Legend and Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=caskYEbIQDoC&pg=PA53|year=1995|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-1071-2|pages=53–54|access-date=22 November 2018|archive-date=6 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706210945/https://books.google.com/books?id=caskYEbIQDoC&pg=PA53|url-status=live}}</ref>