I made a map of India during the Mahabharata!

Why did Tamil Nadu Kerala and Karnataka support the Pandavas Why did Telugu Bengali Odia and Apabhramsha become languages Kashmir has turned into a whole little Switzerland And Bihar the IPL booking agent had hedged on both sides To be honest I never really liked the Mahabharata as a child So many characters moral dilemmas this politics that politics—Ram and Gai were for you Respected people probably don't even know the name of Pandaf Five There are two kinds of groups: Korf consisting of one hundred brothers yes one hundred brothers and Pandf which are five brothers And both fight to decide who will rule Hastinapur What begins as a family feud suddenly escalates into an 18-day global war involving every kingdom from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka Now before we go any further this video will not be a religious discussion and some of you might find the emotions expressed offensive Whenever a discussion about the Mahabharata comes up online social media en usually two kinds of people separate from each other One who believes the Mahabharata is pure fiction with no connection to the truth And another that believes the Mahabharata is literal history The fiction team says to look at all this magical stuff that's happening Krishna's infinite flaw Bhishma's wish-granting boon of death Gandhari's destructive eye beams and the Pandavas' very magical origin story where Kunti literally had the ability to bear children by any god In a big response it also comes up that hold on as written in the Mahabharata Every place mentioned actually exists in the real world Gurukhshetra is in Haryana Hastenapur is real located in western UP Indraprastha that's Delhi even archaeologists call it Hastinapura Numerous ancient warfare-related artifacts were also discovered at the site So what is real and what is mythology Here's the thing: the Mahabharata is an epic and it's not the only epic in the world There are many works similar to Homer's Odyssey or the Epic of Gilgames Epics are neither pure history nor pure fiction Just like a historic big wave it goes like this: History's greatest mythologies are buried deep within the pages of mythology But what makes the Mahabharata special is that it is one of the longest epics in the world When compared to the Mahabharata stories like the Odyssey or the Iliad just seem like short tales According to historian Vivek Debaraj the Mahabharata was composed in three versions As the first version was called which is estimated to have been written around 1000 BC This version contained just 8 800 verses all focused specifically on war It had no philosophy no religious stories only straightforward war journaling In the second version the Mahabharata was expanded and this is when the total number of verses was increased to 24 000 This was written between 800 BC and 400 BC Many interesting things were happening around this time The Upanishads were composed and Buddhism was emerging so the tone shifted from a war journal to an epic emotional drama And in the third phase the final editing of the Mahabharata began around 400 BC and continued all the way into the 500s AD This was the final edit of the Mahabharata during the Gupta era During that same period the Bhagavad Gita was also added to the Mahabharata and some of the most profound philosophical discussions were incorporated into the Mahabharata Look some people get offended by these dates but my goal here is not to promote any one perspective The objective is to share what modern research today suggests For example the Mahabharata also mentions kingdoms such as the Cholas Pandyas and even the Huns and the Shakas which indicates these additions had to be made quite late in the process Written in the 9th century In 1025 Nannaya Bhagavata wrote in the Andhra Mahabharata In the 15th century the Odia poet Sarala Das composed the Odia Mahabharata and in 1604 Kashi Ramdas ji composed the Bangla Mahabharata As you can understand the Mahabharata was not a single fixed document As India evolved changed and progressed so too did the Mahabharata expand So to recap the central core of the Mahabharata—the war—may have been based on a real event around 1500 BC When bitter rivalry had grown extensively between the two branches of the Kuru cla Where the ancestor of the Kuru clan Bhurk was the very protagonist himself Over time the story grew to include numerous subplots diverse philosophies a wide array of characters and expanded geographies With all that context let's return to our map now In the 2000s when I was watching Ramayana on TV instead of skipping Mahabharata Then researcher Jijaji mapped all the locations mentioned in the Mahabharata onto a map Notice that in this map we are labeling the names of the ancient Janapadas alongside Today places like Kashmir Karnataka Utkal and Telanga are witnessing a great deal I decided to use this map but there was a simple issue: it only had labels and no boundaries And if you know anything about IP maps the easiest way to visualize data on a map is to use regional boundaries which makes the sound very complex but is actually quite simple You can turn these into a sexy honeycomb shape by arranging them as a set of dots So I applied it and got this honeycomb patter A boundary resembling a polygon is created around each point The area we can roughly consider the region boundary of that place Is it 100% accurate Definitely not But does it look cool Yup In real life these borders would follow natural boundaries like the reverse of your forests Enough setting the scene —let's now dive deep into the map starting from ground zero at Kurukshetra Today Kurukshetra is just a small town in Haryana But back then it was the ancestral home of the Kurus In the Mahabharata Kauravas and Pandavas were cousins Yanicī their fathers were brothers Dṛtarāṣṭra was the elder brother but he was blind Thus they could not traditionally rule Who will become king after the Pandavas Duryodhana speaks on behalf of the Kauravas I'm the eldest son of the eldest brother so technically the donkey belongs to me While the Pandavas Yudhishthira would have said My father used to rule and I am older than you Duryodhana The mere mention of the dispute caused the entire kingdom to fracture The region known as Weston which is today's Haryana sided with the Pandavas Its capital was Indraprastha now known as Delhi Eastern Kurukshetra remained under the control of the Kauravas whose capital was Hastinapur a town that still exists today near Meerut Due to the conflict in the Kurukshetra region the entire country of India is We had to take a side step now we' ll go zone by zone and review them Who supported whom who received support who got votes so listen up boys and girls IAP is the goat located near Kurukshetra the kingdom of Panchal The map shows solid green meaning the Pandava team is in place — makes sense right Draupadi Ji was here and her father King Drupad The rulers here are the ones who explain how she came to have both names Draupadi and Panchali Draupadi's husband basically had to back the Pandavas de facto— I mean how could you not support your son-in-law Imagine the dinner table conversations—there was another kingdom located south of Kurukshetra called Matsya Machya was the very kingdom where The Pandavas' exile in the fores meaning they had to spend their final year in exile By the way this was the punishment for losing that dice game so all the Pandavas assumed different identities and took up different professions Bhim became a cook and began working in the kitchen Arjuna became a transgender person and began teaching dance The eldest son Yudhishthira did you know what he did He became an advisor to the e king was not focused on matters of dharma but on playing dice—a move not the smartest—so it's understandable that the kingdom of Matsya was sympathetic to The Pandav's are now turning toward the northwest and it's all Orange Pradesh meaning Team Gaurav Gandhar which is today's present day Gandhari is located in Afghanistan She was the devoted wife of Dhritarashtra who chose to blindfold herself for life to stand by her sightless husband—how touching Gandhari's clever and cunning brother was Shakuni who also belonged to For obvious family loyalty reasons Gandhar was hardcore Gaurav team but not just Gandhar Look at this entire region —here among the foreign kingdoms we see the color orange the Yavanas e Greeks the Shakas meaning the Scythians the Pallavas meaning the Persians the Balika meaning the Bactrians and the Tusharas meaning the Tocharians This all belongs to Gaurav and Kamboj The Cambodian assistant Asta was Is the Israeli Jew actually a Yid from Auschwitz Also slap Gaurav straight away So is this a trick Let it go That Garav Parbabil is the dominant power Their connection with Persia and Central Asia Treat and military connections have been maintained And the Avaa of Treth culturally and religiously Gaurav is their comrade-in-arms They will be angry because they are angry India and Iran's So many Vedic gods exist Both regions were asked about The language spoken by Anga which is spoken in present-day Bihar I had read its name from the regio Limbs which at that time was a kingdom And this too belongs to Corvo alone She used to support him The rules of the limb were Kunti had seen the Pandavas' eldest son and the Pandavas themselves It shouldn't be expected from the entire society as a whole OneSef for distance learning To know how to use his panḍaф These limbs do not abandon the entire society I'll give my life for the sake of the one I love most It was thanks to Karn that he led this Digvijay Campaign Vanga Pundravardhana Kalinga Utkala Odra even the fair of Prak Jotisha Andharka Talingga All of this has fallen under the radar of the corvés Craws which is a good good block You're constantly breathing in so take it along with you As we go deeper into the night it's getting later and later baby Pain had settled on him That was the reason why Dake had been sent in place of Inendi They had no quarrel with anyone in the incident These were just slogans for the Ganga so what do we care about them And you run through Gujarat Gujarat was already a hub of commerce and trade back then just as it is today The boy had been with him all along Then it was Kingdom Dwaraka in Gujarat Which was King Krishnaji's kingdom The two sons of Jarasandha They had supported both opposing sides Some kinds that were the most isolated rebels For example in the two answers given by the guru They are from today's Kirghiz or Tajikistan region If this had occurred in Nepal Kashmir Gurjar or Kosala these people would not have taken anyone's side Your journey today began with a stumble Why Padia After establishing Indraprastha Yudhishthira ruled over the entire land of Bharatavarsha as its sovereign king It was extremely difficult to choose between the Arid Throne and Game Frons Four pads are required to lead Digvijay campaigns in these four different directions This facility is intended for Sehdev a widower and a man of letters If you search Google you'll find that Chaudhary and Pandey are associated with 250 BCE and 400 BCE respectively Those who are devoted to the time of the Mahabharata when philosophy was unfolding within it The tales of the Mahabharata reach South India en to make the Mahabharata more inclusive and reflective of the political climate The kingdoms of Chod Padiya Hunj and Shaka would have been part of the story's narrative Even though he's real he might not have any connection to the war By the time the story reached the South it had become clear that The Pandavas were the good guys and the Kauravas were the bad guys So perhaps that's why all the kingdoms in South India de facto aligned with the good guys But then another question arises: How did the Pandavas become the good guys As we had seen The Kauravas represent a well- established Vedic order the old order On the other hand the Pandavas represented the underdogs Those who lacked the support of great kingdoms Support came from the larger forest tribes ribes that were never included in the Vedic order For example it was the tribal kingdom of Nishad Those who had saved the Pandavas from the assination attempt by the Kauravas Well you know the Lakh ka Ghar right The plan to burn the Pandavas in a house The Pandavas' ways however were quite anti-Vedic as well Let's start with the obvious Polyandry This concept is absolutely not approved in the Vedas And not only is this allowed in the Vedas but Vedic princesses would marry princes outside their caste So Arjun marrying the Naga princess Ulupi And Bhima marrying the demoness Hidimbi —these are all non-Vedic practices So broadly speaking it appears that the Kauravas were popular in regions where Vedic culture was quite strong While the Pandavas had strengthened their hold in those regions which was outside the Vedic sphere of influence That makes you wonder whether perhaps the Mahabharata It may not have happened physically but it certainly happened culturally This was an abstract war between two opposing worldviews An elitist ancient Indo-Iranian Vedic culture symbolized by Lord Indra And a tribal local Indian non-Vedic culture Where Indra meets a Sigma Andrew Tate-esque Appearing as a macho god Reclining proudly atop his elephant One who eliminates weaker enemies Krishna promotes love and unity through the power of devotion a philosophy embraced by every living being He is a part of the Supreme Being It becomes clear if you think about the scene When Shri Krishna Ji climbed Govardhan Hill Lifting it up with his little finger It protects all the villagers from Indra's wrath This I think is symbolic This is a clear expression Indra's time is over What is Lord Indra doing to us Baba What do you worship them for I've heard at he is a lavish deity The cable that had fallen into the Ragrang area It keeps having fun The Mahabharat war symbolizes a cultural milestone When an old rigid Indo-European culture transforms upon arriving in India An inclusive authentically Indian Sanatana Dharma It represents the milestone when the old gods was replaced by the new gods And it also represents the moment when India Instead of looking further into Persia and Central Asia It begins to turn inward India as a whole begins to recognize it Now before we begin searching for the moral of the story the individual presented in the room is One should confront the elephant in the room Why don't we know about our own history Knowing this is so complicated let's be honest On one hand we have modern historians A fear an unease Their feeling is nothing but loneliness nothing but solitude How can they penetrate the gaps in our stories And how can we prove that Our culture is not great this is fear It naturally pushes us away from them But on the other hand it draws us toward them Great stories are told at Café Grand where Inside us there is a sense of pride still shaping India's image in a profound way Somewhere deep inside our hearts we always know We are being forced into a false choice I don't want to change your mind about anything in this entire video I want to familiarize you only with different perspectives stories and research So you can have your own viewpoint as per your own perspective I can do it myself but yes if you're asking for my own analysis let me explain After all the study My analysis is tha The Mahabharata is absolutely not 100% literal history But that doesn't mea Everything in the Mahabharata is symbolic they are symbols and Symbols are not merely not lies they are far more useful than truth itself hinting at things of greater value than historical accuracy The Mahabharata is somewhat like India's collective fever dream a cross-generational Chinese whisper game through whic India's diverse cultures across countless time periods one Trapped together in the same net In my opinion the true victory of the farmers It had not taken place on the ground of the Kurukshetra battlefield The Indra aspect of the Mahabharata transformed into the Krishna aspec In changing whether you do this Believe me every word of the Mahabharata You're absolutely right or do you really believe that Mahabharata is nothing bu poetic fiction you are this thing Dinaï No they couldn't but Mahabharata has helped set up one of the most inclusive cultures We all look different we all Speak different languages different ones They uphold their faiths yet still remain one It's a thread that brings us together Adds perhaps this is not magic It is in this country's soil that a mother once lived Not only did he let them live but he spared them as well Inspired wrote my own story To write and just about anything else Supporting a story in between Every story in this country is Keep alive together with one another Tied joined bundled mixed whose Mahabharata today is a golden It's a symbol Friends I am Ashresh And this was my story of diving deep into the Mahabharata Video All your research notes will be available on the description and if you'd like to flex With your newly acquired Mahabharata knowledge you can order our framed Mahabharata map using the link below I'll see you in the next video Bye-bye India and Pixels thanks the tuning and