Great history of the Mahabharatha

MAHABHARATHA ADI PARVA describes the following about the history of the Mahabharatha.  “Vyasa executed the compilation of the Bharata, exclusive of the episodes originally in twenty-four thousand verses; and so much only is called by the learned as the Bharata. Afterwards, he composed an epitome in one hundred and fifty verses, consisting of the introduction with the chapter of contents. This he first taught to his son Suka; and afterwards he gave it to others of his disciples who were possessed of the same qualifications. After that he executed another compilation, consisting of six hundred thousand verses. Of those, thirty hundred thousand are known in the world of the Devas; fifteen hundred thousand in the world of the Pitris: fourteen hundred thousand among the Gandharvas, and one hundred thousand in the regions of mankind. Narada recited them to the Devas, Devala to the Pitris, and Suka published them to the Gandharvas, Yakshas, and Rakshasas: and in this world they were recited by Vaisampayana, one of the disciples of Vyasa, a man of just principles and the first among all those acquainted with the Vedas. Know that I, Sauti, have also repeated one hundred thousand verses..............”

Mahabharatha ADI PARVA SECTION I provides the complete History of the Universe right from the creation onwards.

“In this world, when it was destitute of brightness and light, and enveloped all around in total darkness, there came into being, as the primal cause of creation, a mighty egg, the one inexhaustible seed of all created beings. It is called Mahadivya, and was formed at the beginning of the Yuga, in which we are told, was the true light Brahma, the eternal one, the wonderful and inconceivable being present alike in all places; the invisible and subtile cause, whose nature partaketh of entity and non-entity. From t his egg came out the lord Pitamaha Brahma, the one only Prajapati; with Suraguru and Sthanu. Then appeared the twenty-one Prajapatis, viz., Manu, Vasishtha and Parameshthi; ten Prachetas, Daksha, and the seven sons of Daksha. Then appeared the man of inconceivable nature whom all the Rishis know and so the Viswe-devas, the Adityas, the Vasus, and the twin Aswins; the Yakshas, the Sadhyas, the Pisachas, the Guhyakas, and the Pitris. After these were produced the wise and most holy Brahmar shis, and the numerous Rajarshis distinguished by every noble quality. So the water, the heavens, the earth, the air, the sky, the points of the heavens, the years, the seasons, the months, the fortnights, called Pakshas, with day and night in due succession. And thus were produced all things which are known to mankind”.

The Kuru dynasty of the Mahabharatha can be best described by the following map. [courtesy - whoever created it ]

 

The dynasty of Surya Vansh of Kaushal (Ayodhya) ends with Sumitra (Bhagwatam 9/12/16); the dynasty of Chandra Vansh of Hastinapur ends with Kshemaka (Bhagwatam 9/22/44, 45); and the dynasties of the kingdom of Magadh flourished up to the Gupt dynasty (80’s BC).

List of Kings

Lineage of Emperors of Bharatvarsha (INDIA) after Mahabharata About 30 Emperors belonging to the House of Yudhisthira ruled collectively for 1,770 years, 11 months and 10 days: The following is the list of Rulers and Period of  reign in Year, Month and Days.

Name of the King	Period of rule
Yudhisthira	36 Years 8 Months 25 Days
Parikshit	60 Years 0 Months 0 Days
Janamejaya	84 Years 7 Months 23 Days
Ashwamedha	82 Years 8 Months 22 Days
Rama II	88 Years 2 Months 8 Days
Chhatra Mala	81 Years 11 Months 27 Days
Chitraratha	75 Years 3 Months 18 Days
Dushtashailya	75 Years 10 Months 24 Days
Ugrasena	78 Years 7 Months 21 Days
Shurasena	78 Years 7 Months 21 Days
Bhuvanapati	69 Years 5 Months 5 Days
Ranajita	65 Years 10 Months 4 Days
Rikshaka	64 Years 7 Months 4 Days
Sukhdeva	62 Years 0 Months 24 Days
Naraharideva	51 Years 10 Months 2 Days
Suchiratha	42 Years 11 Months 2 Days
Shurasena II	58 Years 10 Months 8 Days
Atasena	55 Years 8 Months 10 Days
Medhavi	52 Years 10 Months 10 Days
Sonachira	50 Years 8 Months 21 Days
Bhimadeva	47 Years 9 Months 20 Days
Nriharideva	45 Years 11 Months 23 Days
Purnamala	44 Years 8 Months 7 Days
Karadavi	44 Years 10 Months 8 Days
Alammika	50 Years 11 Months 8 Days
Udayapala	38 Years 9 Months 0 Days
Duvanamala	40 Years 10 Months 26 Days
Damata	32 Years 0 Months 0 Days
Shimpala	58 Years 5 Months 8 Days
Kshemaka	48 Years 11 Months 21 Day

The kingdom of Hastinapur, after Kshemaka, was constantly ruled by the people who took over the throne. An ancient book describing the date-wise chronology of all the kings of Hastinapur (Indraprasth or Delhi) from Yudhishthir up to Vikramaditya was found by the proprietors of the fortnightly magazine of Nathdwara (Rajasthan) called “Harishchandra Chandrika and Mohan Chandrika” in about 1872 AD. The proprietor of the magazine printed the entire description in two of its issues (called kiran) 19 and 20 of 1882.


The description is detailed to year-month-days of each and every king who ruled. By adding the total number of years of the four dynasties from Yudhishthir to Vikramaditya, it comes to 3,148 years which is 3111 Kali era or 9 AD, which represents the date when Vikramaditya left this earth planet. Vikramaditya ruled Hastinapur for 93 years from 83 BC to 9 AD. Accordingly, the date for the Mahabharat war comes to (3148 – 9 = 3139 BC). 

[ Ref : 1) wikipedia.org  
2) http://www.thevedicfoundation.org/bhartiya_history/mahabharat.htm ]