Vyasa means reorganizing. Ved Vyasa reorganized and compiled the Vedas into four parts. He taught one Veda each to four of his students and tasked them with the propagation. His name is Krishna Dvaipayana. Dvaipayana refers to him having been born on an island. Dvaipa means an island. Vyasa also means diameter of a circle and the longest line that can be drawn across the circle. This is also interpreted to mean that Vyasa covers the entire earth in Mahabharata.

Vyasa composed a massive corpus.

He composed the mahapuranas. There are 18 Mahapuranas. In addition there are 18 upapuranas which are lesser known. Several other compilations are also referred to as Puranas, outside of the Mahapurana and Upapurana categories.

He also composed the Brahmasutras which are summaries of the Vedanta and guide to life. Upanishads are a part of the Vedic corpus and were not composed by Ved Vyasa..

Pandavas and Kauravas were legally the great grand children of King Shantanu. When his sons die without heir, his widow Satyavati arranged Niyoga of Shantanu's daughters-in-law with Ved Vyasa. Satyavati had given brith to Ved Vyasa prior to her marriage with Shantanu through Rishi Parashar. Through this Niyoga, Pandu and Dhritarashtra were born.

Ganesha was the scribe for Mahabharata as per popular stories. However, in the original Mahabharata this is not the case.
Vyasa was thinking of how to teach or narrate Mahabharata after his disciples. During this thought he remembered Brahma. Brahma appeared at the same time in front of Vyasa. Vyasa mentioned to him that he has thought of the greatest work that contains everything in the Vedas. But he is confused about who can write it down. Brahma tells him that nobody on earth can write this and asks him to think of Vigneshwara. When Vyasa thought of Vigneshwara he immediately appeared.

The Size of the Epic
The 18 Parvas (books) of the Mahabharata have 84,639 slokas (verses). The Harivamsa Purana is considered a branch of the Mahabharata, and its 12,000 slokas are often added to the count.

K.M. Ganguly mentions that many slokas have three lines each. If these were originally two-line slokas, the total count may approach 100,000 slokas.

The critical edition of Mahabharata removed several verses that were not considered part of the original text. It still is a mammoth 80,000 verses. There are four other epics in the world, including Ramayana. Mahabharata is longer than all other epics put together.

The 18 parvas can be organised into four groups. The first 5 parvas are called Aadhya Panchakam or the first 5. The next 5 parvas are called Yuddha Panchakam. The next three parvas are called Shanti Trayam. The last five parvas are called Andhya Panchakam. There are more than 2300 chapters which are further grouped into upa parvas.

Naimisaranya is near Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. It is on the banks of the Gomati river.

Naimisaranya is the place where Mahabharata is narrated by Ugrashrava Sauti.

Naimisaranya is one of the most sacred tirthas of India. It was abode of tens of thousands of Rishis. The Ramayana, the Mahabharata and puranas are all believed to have been recited here.

During long Yajnas, there are periods of rest in between. Storytellers narrate stories during this time. Mahabharata was narrated by Ugrashravas during such period of rest.

We did not hear Mahabharata directly from Ved Vyasa. Ved Vyasa narrated Mahabharata to his student Vaisampayana first. Vaisampayana then narrates the Mahabharat to King Janamejaya. Ugrashrava Sauti who was present at the occasion hears the narration and then travels to Naimisharanya. Here he meets Rishi Saunaka and countless other Rishis. He narrates Mahabharat to the gathering of Rishis. This narration is what we read. Thus, it would be the third narration, the first being to Vaisampayana, the second being to Janamejaya and the third being to the Rishis.

Ugrasravas, son of Lomaharsana is also called Suta Pouranika. They belong to the Suta clan. Sautis are story tellers. Sautis are very talented storytellers who can make the story gripping. They also narrate the moral lessons in the stories. They normally tell stories to Kings.

Anukramanika is the first Adhyaya of Mahabharata. It has 274 verses. The verses 110 to 274 are a concise summary of Mahabharata. In these verses Drtarashtra tells Sanjaya that he always knew that his sons will lose the war. Drtarashtra recounts a key event of Mahabharata and then laments to Sanjaya that when this event happened he knew that his sons will lose.

Critical Edition refers to the most authentic version of ancient texts.

A critical edition attempts to recreate the original version of the text, discarding insertions that may have been made over a period of time and in different languages. It involves three very important and tedious steps. It collects all versions of the text from various sources and languages. A group of experts make judgements on which verser are authentic and which are later day interpolations. Finally, the authentic version is published, with all the other versions of each verse and comments included separately.

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute compiled the Critical Edition of Mahabharata. It was a giant research project with research conducted over five decades consulting 1,259 manuscripts. The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata has 89000+ verses and is published in 19 Volumes with over 15000 large size pages.

The Fifth Veda

The Four Goals of Life (Purusharthas). The Vedas explain the four goals of life, Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. So does the Mahabharata. The epic teaches that earning wealth (Artha) and enjoyment (Kama) must be pursued in accordance with Dharma. It also shows us the route to Moksha (liberation).

Moksha is not just a benefit after death. It is how to live a complete and content life right now. Moksha is the way of living the present life with equanimity. The Purusha Suktam and Upanishads also teach the same about Moksha.

In fact, the Mahabharata contains all that is contained in the Vedas, which is why it is called the Panchamaveda (Fifth Veda). It is Veda Sara Mahabharatam (The Essence of the Vedas).

Jaya refers to the victory of Dharma. Whether Pandavas win or Kauravas win is irrelevant. Whichever side is with Dharma that wins.Yato Dharmastato Jayaḥ is a phrase that is in Mahabharata and it means, Where there is Dharma, there will be Victory. This phrase is so powerful that it has been adopted as the motto of the Supreme Court of India.

The Subtlety of Dharma
Dharma is not a rigid, black-and-white formula. It depends on the situation and the person involved. The same person may have to act differently in various situations, and Dharma changes accordingly.

Dharma is Sukshamam (subtle or profound). Many life situations involve a Dharma Sankatam (a moral dilemma or conflicting actions). The Mahabharata explains this subtlety. Upon a casual reading, the stories and conduct of people in the Mahabharata may appear contradictory.

The Mahabharata explains Dharma and its profound nature through complex situations. It shows us what constitutes good conduct and teaches us the intelligence required to apply the right values in the correct situation.

When Dharma is explained through stories, it becomes easy to hear, remember, and practice. The Mahabharata is the narration of the entire Dharmashastra (science of righteous conduct) in the form of stories. It is aptly called Dharma Sara Mahabharatam (The Essence of Dharma).