How the Mahabharata Attained to its-Present Bulk. 27
been added to, to a very great extent with this object,
though it is not possible to say that these Parvas are
entirely new additions made about the time of the last
recasting of the Bharata about 200 B.C. For certain
portions of these Parvas are indeed very old as we shall
have occasion to show hereafter, and it is probable that
these did form part of the original Bharata. The
additions made can5 however, never be regretted, for
here we have a vast collection of old stories, doctrines
and rituals, which enables us to determine the social,
moral and religious condition of the Aryas 2,000 years
ago and earlier ; we shall make an attempt of this kind
in a subsequent book which will contain one of the most
interesting inquiries undertaken In this book.
Repetition.—The second fruitful source of extension
is repetition. Repetition may sometimes be useful for
the purpose of impressing a subject on the reader's
mind ; but it must be acknowledged as a repetition. In
the Mahabharata, however, we find the same story
repeated twice and even thrice without any reason or
acknowledgment. The repetition grates on the ear
and the reader is puzzled to know why the story has
been repeated and whether the author was himself
aware of it. This repetition can be seen over the whole
length of the work and sometimes without long intervals.
Innumerable instances can be cited, but we content
ourselves here with a few of them \vhich are most
striking. In the Adi Parva we have the story of Astika
twice given, the second only after a few chapters after
the first. The second is more detailed than the first.
It seems as if Sauti was not satisfied with the meagre