Where do we seek answers to all the questions that life raises? Can works of art provide answers? If so, does art have absolute authority over life and is life subordinated to art? Or is art a mere reflection of life? Mikhail Bakhtin (1990) observes that art is far too grand and “audaciously self-confident” and “high flown,” and the “humble prose of life” is no match for mighty art, and yet, within the individual they must converge, confront, and exchange ideas and achieve the “unity of answerability.” Art simply cannot provide the inspiration and ignore the prosaic of life, and life in turn cannot remain ineffectual by not answering itself with what has been “experienced and understood in art.” Without the answerability factor, both art and life become impoverished. Bakhtin further points out, “It is not only mutual answerability that art and life must assume, but also mutual liability for blame” (1990, 1). This complex equation between art and life seems to aptly capture the intense relationship that readers develop with the grand epic from India – The Mahabharata.

This epic is unarguably one of the mightiest literary creations in human history, and certainly the longest – seven times the size of Iliad and Odyssey combined.