Itihasaइतिहास

THE SACRED LIBRARY

About Itihasa

In the Chandogya Upanishad, Narada lists Itihasa-Purana among the many subjects he has learned. He nevertheless tells Sanatkumara that he remains in sorrow and asks for further guidance. The conversation distinguishes extensive learning from the deeper understanding he hopes to gain, while preserving narrative as a recognized part of education.

The Mahabharata is praised as a work engaging duty, wealth, desire and liberation. Such an understanding makes an epic a place of inquiry into human aims. A character’s success in one sphere can raise problems in another, and the story can hold those tensions without flattening them into a single maxim.