MISCONCEPTION : MAHABHARAT WAS INITIALLY JAYA WITH 8800 VERSES,THEN IT WAS INCREASED TO 24000 VERSES AND FINALLY 100000 VERSES.

On many blogs and Wikipedia too, I have read that Mahabharat narrated by Ved Vyas to Ganesha was 8800 verses,also known as Jaya.Later Vaisampanya narrated it to Janmejaya and it became 24000 verses,also known as Bharat.And finally Ugrasrava Sauti's narration at Naimisharanya in 100000 verses,also known as Mahabharat.

However this very interesting story is noting but Fake. Whenever Karna/Kaurava fans lose a debate they start cursing the Mahabharat narrators and the above story is their first matter of concern .They claim that complete Mahabharat was never written by sage Vyas so why should they believe it.

So in this post we shall dispel this another very popular misconception.

TRUTH -

The fact is,Ved Vyas himself wrote 100000 verses for human beings.Yes,on the very first page of Mahabharat we can find this out.

Ved Vyas actually wrote 60 lakh verses:

>>In those,an edition of 30 lakh verses was for Demi Gods(Devas).
>>15 Lakh verses were for Pitras.
>>14 Lakh verses were for Yakshas, Gandharvas and Rakshasas.
>>And One Lakh verses for Humans.

Narada recited them to the Devas.
Devala to the Pitris.
Suka to the Gandharvas, Yakshas, and Rakshasas.
Vaisampayana and Sauti to the world of Humans.

Excerpt from Ganguli's Translation -

"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."

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01002.htm

Interested ones can also check out this snap from Geeta Press Mahabharat's authour page - http://bit.ly/1Pj1vQE
It also mentions the same thing as mentioned by Ganguli.

So all this should clear the misconception about this Sloka Enhancements in Mahabharat.

WHY THIS STORY ?

>>> 8800 SLOKA JAYA -

In the same chapter of KMG,we can read Sauti mentioning once about 8800 slokas -

"I am (continued Sauti) acquainted with eight thousand and eight hundred verses, and so is Suka, and perhaps Sanjaya. From the mysteriousness of their meaning, O Muni, no one is able, to this day, to penetrate those closely knit difficult slokas. Even the omniscient Ganesa took a moment to consider; while Vyasa, however, continued to compose other verses in great abundance."

*** This is where people get confused,here Sauti is not referring to Jaya but in all probability to Vyas's 'Kutas'.

Sauti says that in the entire epic these are 8800 slokas which are extremely difficult."Vyas's Kutas" means the extremely difficult verses which Vyas spoke and even Ganesha took a moment to understand them.After an interval,Ved Vyas used to recite a difficult sloka.As Sauti says above - "From the mysteriousness of their meaning, O Muni, no one is able, to this day, to penetrate those closely knit difficult slokas."

So those 8800 verses which Sauti mentions here is the list of verses which were the most difficult to understand in the 100000 verses written by Vyas.It does not,in any way mean that Vyas only wrote 8800 verses.

>>> 24000 SLOKA BHARAT -

This is something interesting and seems to be correct.Vyas indeed wrote a 24000 sloka version which is also called 'Bharata Samhita'.This was a shorter version and not divided into Parvas.Vyas did not enhanced Bharat Samhita to 1 lakh verses.He wrote a different one lakh verse edition.

Narrative:

"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."

However many consider this story fake too.

But what's definitely correct is the story of Vyas writing 60 Lakh Verses,and humans getting the One Lakh Sloka Version,through Sauti and Vaisampayna.

NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN RECENSIONS OF MAHABHARAT-

These both are the most popular Recensions we have currently.

The earliest mention of Mahabharata by Vyas was 1 lakh slokas in inscriptions dating back 500 BC and earlier.

But the Northern Recensions don't have full one lakh slokas.The Non Critical editions like KMG and MN Dutta have 83000 Slokas while the Critical Edition,Pune on their research ruled out 10000 Slokas,leaving 73000.This shows that atleast 25000 slokas or perhaps more are missing from Northern Recensions.

The Southern Recensions of Mahabharat have 1 Lakh slokas but unfortunately we don't have a critical edtion for Southern Recensions yet.The Critical Edition which we have is based on Nothern Recensions.However,the Kumbakonam edition of south can be considered as a Semi Critical edition because they have used various Manuscripts in that.

Some Books based on Northern Recension of Mahabharat -

KM Ganguly's Translation
MN Dutta's Translation
Geeta Press by Sastri
BORI Critical Edition

Some books based on Southern Recensions of Mahabharat -

Dakshinatya Kumbakonam Edition
Southern Recension by PPS Sastri
C. Rajgopalachari's retelling

~PG