Sri Aurobindo

Early Cultural Writings

(1890 — 1910)

Part Two. On Literature
The Poetry of Kalidasa

On the Mahabharata

[Notes on Adi Purva, Adhyaya 1]

Importance attached to गृहस्थाश्रमः. I. 73. (Other) poets have not genius enough to improve on this poem just as the three other asramas are unable to improve on the householder’s asrama.

Application of the word “काव्य” to poetry. “You have called this a poem; a poem therefore it shall be.” How far does this bear on the date of the Prolegomena?

Story of Ganesha as bearing on the length of the original poem. Slokas 78 ... 83.

Sense that the ethical and historical is the main drift of the poem. Repeated statements that the Mahabharata is a popular exposition of the teaching of the Veda and Vedanta (श्रुति).

General (passim): Application of “Puran” and “Itihas” to Mahabharata. Ancient idea of the universality of the poem.