The Mahabharata (Indian epic: composition, redaction, and manuscript traditions, c. 400 BCE–400 CE)

1. Early oral Bharata war traditions circulate

   Jan 1, 400 BCELabels: Oral tradition, Bharatas

   • Britannica

2. Panini notes early “Mahabharata” terminology

   Jan 1, 350 BCELabels: P ini, Mah bh

   • Mahabharata

3. Ashvalayana Grihyasutra cites “Bharata”

   Jan 1, 350 BCELabels: val yana, Bh rata

   • Mahabharata

4. Epic expands into multi-book Sanskrit narrative

   Jan 1, 200 BCELabels: Parvans, Sanskrit narrative

   • Britannica

5. Increasing “dharma” instruction reshapes the epic

   Jan 1, 100 BCELabels: Dharma instruction, Redactors

   • Britannica

6. Harivamsa materials begin attaching to the epic

   Jan 1, 100 BCELabels: Hariva a, Krishna

   • Harivamsa

7. Ashvaghosha-era quotations imply early epic circulation

   Jan 1, 100Labels: A vagho, Epic quotations

   • Harivamsa

8. Sanskrit manuscript culture develops durable copying practices

   Jan 1, 200Labels: Manuscript culture, Recensions

   • Spitzer MS

9. Large-scale redaction stabilizes an 18-parvan structure

   Jan 1, 400Labels: 18 parvans, Redaction

   • Mahabharata
   • Britannica

10. Earliest surviving manuscripts appear much later than composition

    Jan 1, 1100Labels: Surviving manuscripts, Palm-leaf

    • Mahabharata

11. BORI launches Mahabharata Critical Edition project

    Apr 1, 1919Labels: BORI, Critical Edition

    • BORI

12. First Critical Edition volume (Adiparvan) published

    Jan 1, 1933Labels: Adiparvan, V S

    • Cambridge Core

13. BORI announces completion of the Critical Edition

    Sep 22, 1966Labels: BORI completion, Critical apparatus

    • BORI
    • Sukthankar