Inconsistencies, contradictions within the Mahabharata.

Originally posted by: .Vrish.

I ascribe this due to the terms under which Vyasa composed this epic. Remember, he had asked Ganesh to write this for him, and Ganesh put to him a condition that he couldn't stop dictating, or else he'd withdraw. Vyasa put a counter condition that Ganesh had to understand whatever was being dictated b4 he wrote further. That gave Vyasa breathing room to compose verses.

But herein lies the rub. In order to compose verses that confounded Ganesh, Vyasa had to do a lot of literary gymnastics, and in the process, mucked around w/ the facts a lot - writing contradictory things in different places. Like in Adi Parva, a reading of it would make it look like Surya dev just handed Karna over to Kunti & disappeared, whereas Vana Parva mentioned that Kunti carried him in her womb, and had spies tracking him as he floated downstream.

Essentially, this exercise has made me lose most of my respect for Vyasa's work, since it's heavily compromised by the games he was busy playing w/ Ganesh, rather than meticulously put together something true to history. Unlike Valmiki, who painstakingly put together his works on his own, and faithfully reproduced whatever happened, regardless of how it looked for Rama, Vyasa is all over the place, which is why we have citation wars in this forum and elsewhere.

Originally posted by: ..RamKiJanaki..

Abhimanyu was indeed 16 years old. There are many indications in the text itself.

"Dhritarashtra said, 'Hearing, O Sanjaya, of the slaughter of the son (Abhimanyu), yet in his minority, of that lion among men, (viz., Arjuna), my heart seems to break into pieces. Cruel, indeed, are the duties of Kshatriyas as laid down by the legislators, in as much as brave men, desirous of sovereignty scrupled not to shoot their weapons at even a child. O son of Gavalgana, tell me how so many warriors, accomplished in arms, slew that child who, though brought up in luxury, yet careered over the field so fearlessly. Tell me, O Sanjaya, how our warriors behaved in

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battle with Subhadra's son immeasurable energy who had penetrated into our car-array.'

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07031.htm

Dhritarashtra said, A mere child in years, brought up in great luxury, proud of the strength of his arms, accomplished in battle, endued with great heroism, the perpetuator of his race, and prepared to lay down his life--when Abhimanyu penetrated into the Katirava army, borne on his three-years old steeds of spirited mettle, was there any of great warriors, in Yudhishthira's army, that followed the son of Arjuna?'

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07039.htm